Return Journey
by populifola
Summary: During the war, Kakashi learns that Yamato has been captured. After the war is over, Yamato is reunited with his team but has to recover from his injuries with the help of an unexpected ally. Mostly Kakashi and Yamato centric with guest appearances by other characters.
1. Chapter 1

"Kakashi?" The husky voice sounded unfamiliar. Kakashi turned around to see Gai stooping to enter his tent. His usually flashy demeanor was demure, his face serious.

"Hello, Gai. It's good to see you. I specifically requested you to help me lead the third division, so I hope you don't mind if we get straight to work. How's Naruto?"

"He's okay. He's still on the island, but he's getting suspicious."

"I'm sure Tenzo can handle him," Kakashi remarked, turning his attention back to the scroll he had been reading.

"Kakashi," Gai said again, shifting his feet uncomfortably.

"What is it, Gai?"

"About Captain Yamato . . . before I left the island, he was . . . he was captured by the enemy." Kakashi's one visible eye opened wide, and the scroll dropped to the floor with a thud.

"What?"

"Kabuto Yakushi. The medical ninja working for Orochimaru. It seemed like he was after the eight and nine tails, but when Yamato went outside with Motoi and Aoba to investigate . . . well, well, unfortunately I was powerless to provide any aid after opening the inner gates in my fight against that shark shinobi!"

"So he was taken by Kabuto?" Kakashi felt his heart rate quickening.

"I'm so sorry, Kakashi! Apparently Yamato and the others had him immobilized with the help of a shinobi from the Hidden Stone, but he moulted just like Orochimaru used to do, and in a snakelike form he swallowed Yamato whole and escaped with Manda." Kakashi sat back down and stared at the floor, trying to process what he had just heard. If he had been captured, then . . .

Gai couldn't take the silence.

"Do not fear, my eternal rival! I am ready at any moment to go to his aid! Anko and others from the intelligence unit are looking for Kabuto's lair as we speak—as soon as we find out where it is, we can go and rescue him! Kabuto won't have killed him—he will want to keep him alive for information, and besides that he has a unique kekke genkai." Kakashi closed his eye and took a deep breath.

"Gai . . . Tenzo is an ANBU." Gai stared for a moment, not sure what he meant. That he should have been able to evade capture? That he would escape by himself?

"Nevertheless, it may be difficult for him to get away on his own," Gai started.

"No, I mean—" Kakashi's breathing quickened. "You were never in the black-ops, but surely you've heard the code? When an ANBU is captured . . ." Gai waited, his eyes wide and innocent. ". . . well, the protocol is to prevent the enemy from using you. Especially for those with kekke genkai . . ."

"What are you saying, Kakashi?"

"It's, well, Gai, it's too late," Kakashi stuttered, wishing Gai would get the picture already. Tears sunk into the headband covering his left eye and fell to his mask on the right.

"You mean he . . . would have ended it himself." Gai sat down heavily on the ground. He stared at the dirt floor for a moment and then clenched his fists and stood up again.

"I am so sorry, Kakashi! If only I had been able to—"

"Don't, Gai. There was nothing you could have done." He steeled himself against the sadness. He tried not to blame himself either, but it was almost like a reflex. Maybe if he had been there, he could have helped. But he wasn't, and there was no way to change that now.

"We will not let his sacrifice be in vain," Gai said, his voice softer now. "We will dedicate ourselves wholeheartedly to winning this war." He put a hand on Kakashi's shoulder. Kakashi nodded, but it didn't look wholehearted.

"Captain Kakashi?" A young shinobi from the Cloud peeked her head into the tent. "The captains will now address their companies." With a quick glance at Gai, he headed for the door. Gai stopped him.

"Here," he gestured to the basin of water on the desk.

"Oh. Okay," _I guess it's a good idea to put on a brave face for my troops,_ he thought. He exposed his face for just a moment to wash his tears away, but after drying it he replaced his mask and headband. He took a deep breath before leaving the tent.

 **A/N:**

Thanks for reading this fic! If it seems to be getting a slow start, feel free to skip to Ch. 5.


	2. Chapter 2

Kakashi's third company was making their stand against the resurrected ninja swordsmen when Naruto and Bee joined the war effort. Kakashi had been informed about their escape from the island and subsequent persuasion of the hokage and raikage, but he had been listening to the gossip in his company to keep an eye on morale as they travelled through the trees. Luckily, the news of Naruto's plans seemed to evoke hope in the troops, though if he was being truthful it made Kakashi more afraid than hopeful.  
"Apparently he can tell the difference between the white beings and us," one of the shinobi in his company was saying to another, "and he's already cut them down in tens and twenties with his shadow clones."  
"Good! Those things give me the creeps," said a sand shinobi. "I don't even understand what exactly they are. Are they human?"  
"I heard they're like plants—but they've got human cells. The first hokage's cells—they even turn into trees when Naruto uses that chakra thing he uses—that chakra from the kyuubi."  
"Wait, what did you say?" Kakashi spoke up, closing a little of the space between himself and the two shinobi.  
"Oh, sorry, Captain. We were just—"  
"It's fine. You said the white Zetsu turned into trees?"  
"That's right. I heard from someone in the medical corps that they have the first hokage's cells. I even heard that some of them have used a form of wood style jutsu." Kakashi's head was spinning. He tried to keep himself from getting excited.  
"Hm. Keep that in mind when you fight them," was all he could manage to say to end the conversation.  
 _He's alive. He's got to be. If the enemy has enough of the Shodai Hokage's DNA for them to use wood style, they must have found a way to extract those cells from Tenzo, and that means . . ._ He closed his eyes against the sudden flood of thoughts about what they must be doing to him. _That means he's still alive, one way or the other. That'll have to be good enough for me, right now._  
Kakashi stole a glance at Gai. He wondered if he had put two and two together. Gai returned his gaze with a wide smile and a thumbs-up.  
"We'll rescue our hot-blooded comrade yet!" He was so confident. Kakashi's eye closed in a smile. Any good news was welcome during a war, even if it was qualified.


	3. Chapter 3

Kakashi looked down at his team in the middle of the Valley of Death. Seeing them together again like this filled him with a joy so intense it almost felt like pain. And there was real pain mixed in with it—the losses of the war and especially finding out that Obito was still alive only to lose him again shook him. Naruto and Sasuke were both alive—it was the best outcome that he could have hoped for when they had decided to fight—but they were both maimed from their battle. Why did Sasuke have to do this to them? Right after a battle on which the balance of the world hung, how could he have the audacity to push them even further? Naruto seemed to have already forgiven him, but Kakashi hadn't forgiven him on Naruto's behalf. Yet as he looked at Sasuke—his face bruised and tear-streaked, his shoulders slumped, his severed arm hanging loosely—what he had done to himself upset his teacher just as much. _Well, it's done now. We can't change the past. They're still alive. And they're back together._ Kakashi began to walk the long way around to the valley. He was too badly injured to venture a jump.

"Now that you've performed the unison sign, everyone should be waking up from the Infinite Tsukuyomi," Sakura was saying when Kakashi got close enough to hear them. Naruto started.

"That's right!" He exclaimed, his eyes wide. "Hinata! And Gai Sensei and Granny Tsunade and Octopops and Gaara and—" as he went on Kakashi could see Sakura's frustration building up in her raised shoulders and balled fists; he could practically see steam coming out of her ears.

"Naruto! Everyone was trapped in that genjutsu so are you just going to list the names of every single person in the entire world?" She shouted.

"I care about my friends! The last time I checked, that wasn't a bad thing!" Naruto yelled back. His face took on a familiar pouting expression. Kakashi smiled. He felt the tension in his chest begin to release. It looked like they were really back.


	4. Chapter 4

Just getting back to the battlefield was grueling work. Everyone was injured, and it was at least two miles through the forest with frequent stops for Sakura to ease Naruto's and Sasuke's pain with her medical ninjutsu. When they arrived, they had been met with fanfare that was quickly cut off as Sakura tried to protect Naruto from adoring shinobi and quickly get him and Sasuke both to a medical tent.

Kakashi cast weary eyes over the battlefield. It was littered with the bodies of the dead and injured, and Tsunade, Shizune, Ino, and the other medical ninja scurried about treating those who had been most seriously injured, in spite of their own injuries and exhaustion. Tsunade was hunched over a dark, almost unrecognizable figure. A fidgety and emotional Lee was squatting beside her, carefully watching every movement.

"Gai." Kakashi quickly made his way to them. Gai's skin was burnt and part of his foot had already turned to ash. Despite Naruto's reassurance, Kakashi couldn't believe he was looking at a living person. A feeling of dread rose in his gut.

"How is he?" He ventured.

Tsunade's voice was strained and frustrated.

"We need to get him to a proper hospital as soon as we can," she said. "Or, more accurately, to get a proper hospital to him. But," a faint smile appeared on her lips as her tone grew more optimistic, "it seems like Naruto was right—I think he's going to be the first person to ever survive opening all eight inner gates." Kakashi's eyes widened in happy surprise. Tears of joy were streaming down Lee's cheeks. Just then, Tenten appeared as if out of nowhere.

"I got the supplies," she said, pulling out a large scroll. She summoned a hospital's worth of medical equipment and helped Tsunade to set it up in a flash. She had incredible stamina for just having been caught in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, but, like Lee, she wasn't about to give up on her team. As much as she had complained about Gai Sensei's youthful passion in the past, she would give anything to see that grinning face light up again. It wasn't the only thing she would give anything for, but she would focus on what was possible. Kakashi had steeled himself to do the same. But he hoped it was possible to bring back just one more person from the brink of death.

"I'm going to search for survivors with my hounds," he told Tsunade, as he shook himself out of his reverie. "Take good care of Gai."

"Mhm. Good luck," she returned, without looking up. "Make sure you get a chance to get your own wounds looked at."

"Will do." He pulled the small scroll from his pocket and smeared some of the blood that was still fresh on his vest onto the scroll. It didn't take much to summon them after all this time. Pakkun and the others looked around, bewildered.

"What a horrible sight," Pakkun sighed.

"All I can smell is blood!" Biscuit complained.

"We're looking for survivors. I want you all to bear with me for a few hours. I know it's an unpleasant task. Let's split up into teams of two. Pakkun will come with me."

"Anyone in particular?" Pakkun asked when the others had gone.

"Tenzo," Kakashi instructed him. "He's been trapped in one of Orochimaru's hideouts all this time, so it might not be his usual scent we're looking for."

"Got it." Pakkun put his nose to the ground. Kakashi even lowered his mask to expose his nose and sniffed the air as well. He knew Pakkun's nose was better than his, so he rarely used his own sense of smell in a search, but there could be a scent that he recognized and Pakkun didn't.

"Kakashi Sensei!" He turned towards the vaguely familiar voice, jerking his mask back up to hide his nose. "You're sniffing around for survivors too?"

"Hello, Kiba," Kakashi greeted him, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess your team is a good search party, huh?"

"Yeah, we split up. But honestly Hinata's ability is the most useful in this case. She's the only one who can actually see the difference between a dead body and someone who's just badly injured from far away. Although-" he added, glancing at a beetle flying past his ear, "that's one of Shino's. They can sense chakra too and when they return to him they'll tell him the locations of dozens of survivors." Kakashi nodded. It was genuinely impressive but he found himself feeling restless to continue his search.

"Good luck to you all."

"Good luck to you too, Sensei. Hopefully we hound users will be able to make some progress too," Kiba said. "Although, if I'm being honest with you, I'm on a bit of a side project right now," he added. "Akamaru and I are good at searching for individuals, not searching for people based on whether they're living or not. So I'm looking for Neji. His body. It's . . . sort of morbid. But I figured it might help if his family can have his body for a funeral. Plus, I wouldn't want them worrying about, you know, the byakugan . . . someone trying to steal their family secret." A chill went up Kakashi's spine. He hoped he wasn't on the same sort of mission.

"That's very kind of you, Kiba," he forced. "Good luck."

"You too, Sensei!" Kiba waved as he turned his attention back to the search—his eyes on the ground, his nose focused on the air. Kakashi looked down to see Pakkun trotting back towards him, having kept searching on his own during the short conversation.

"Kakashi, I think I might have found something."

"Really? You caught Tenzo's scent?"

"Not exactly," the pug drawled. "I smell poison."


	5. Chapter 5

There was no one around to hear him call for help. At least not to hear what pitiful call for help he could muster. Tenzo could actually see other Shinobi, though they looked small from a distance. The battlefield was large—in fact, the Divine Tree had spanned the entire known world. He thought he had been in the midst of the battle; but then again, he thought he had seen Lord Third Hokage, so presumably what he remembered wasn't exactly reliable. He had tried to get closer to where the other shinobi were, to where the search teams could find him, but he had so little chakra. He had been paralyzed for weeks. When the snake venom began to interfere with his ability not just to infuse chakra but to generate it, Kabuto had removed the source of the venom and kept the wood style at bay by siphoning his chakra alone. Now he felt hollow and rubbery.

 _Damn it . . . I can't make it any further. For now._ He paused where he was, on his hands and knees, and breathed heavily for a few seconds. He allowed himself to sit back and closed his eyes. In the past, he had been able to restore his chakra relatively quickly—a function of the first hokage's cells—but it wasn't working this time. He felt dizzy. He lay down, and the broken rocks stabbed into his back.

Out of the side of his eye, he saw something scurry across the ground. A little black mouse. Were mice black? He had seen black mice before, but come to think of it, those weren't real mice, they were—

 _Oh! It's one of Sai's._ Tenzo lifted himself up from the ground just enough to look at the mouse. Indeed, it was an animated drawing—something Sai often used to search an area discretely. The mouse paused as if gathering information. He knew that it didn't "see" him. It wasn't a real animal. But it was a manifestation of Sai's chakra, and Sai could sense objects that the mice encountered, whether they be specific items or shinobi. Tenzo breathed a sigh of relief and lay back down. He could feel his eyes getting heavy, and the pain of his internal wounds slowly melting away with his consciousness.

"Captain? Captain Yamato?" The voice was quiet and even. It betrayed a tone of concern only to those that expected the speaker's usual flat affect. Tenzo's eyes opened slowly. His vision was blurry but he could make out the image of Sai leaning over him. A smile ran across Sai's face. "You're alive!"

Tenzo tried to answer, but he could only manage an "Mm" in response.

"When I heard you'd been captured, I thought we had lost you," Sai continued, his voice chipper. "But evidently you failed to carry out your duty as an ANBU. I don't mean that as a bad thing, Captain," he added when he saw Tenzo's expression change. "I'm very glad!" He had unstrapped the large scroll from his back and started to draw.

"How should we do this? A bird? The ground is rocky, so I think it's best if we travel by air. But you can't hold on well, can you?" Tenzo grunted in pain as he pushed himself into a seated position.

"I can walk. Just help me," he mustered.

"Really?" Sai rolled up the scroll and put his arm around the captain to support him. "Are you sure this is okay?" Tenzo winced as they stood up, but he nodded. "It took me about ten minutes to run here at full speed after my mouse came back," Sai said. "So it shouldn't take us too long to get to the others."

The walk was tedious, but Tenzo didn't complain. Sai was a former member of Danzo's black-ops, and Tenzo found himself drifting back into the emotionless culture around foundation members. Besides, Sai was a subordinate, and he thought he should show a brave face.

"Are you sure you're alright, Captain?"  
"Yes. Thank you."

"Should I carry you?"

"That won't be necessary." But he could tell he was getting weaker, and Sai was supporting more and more of his weight. He was on the verge of passing out when he heard a familiar voice.

"Look, if he's alive, there's no reason for us to fight. Just give us something to go on; where you last saw him, a scent for Pakkun . . ." Kakashi was standing with his usual slumped-over posture. His voice was tired and his tone negotiating. Kabuto stood in front of him, his skin pale yellow and scored with scales. A chill ran up Tenzo's spine upon seeing him. He looked even more inhuman than he had the last time he saw him. But seeing Kakashi so near, talking with him so calmly, and looking for _him_ almost made Tenzo smile.

There was a slim, black-haired figure standing not far from Kabuto. It wasn't immediately clear whether it was a man or a woman, or what age person it was. He wouldn't have even noticed the person if not for the familiar clothes—the yellow tunic and purple rope belt that it seemed everyone associated with Orochimaru wore. The figure turned to approach Kakashi and Kabuto. Tenzo's jaw dropped. His mouth felt dry. It couldn't be. He had died—hadn't he? But his eyes didn't have the black backdrops of a reanimation.

"Kakashi Sensei!" Sai called out. Kakashi nearly jumped when he saw them. His eyes widened and then almost closed in a smile. Pakkun, who almost never made any "dog-like" sounds, let out a loud, happy bark.

"Tenzo!" Kakashi ran over to them in two or three steps. His chest began to feel full again as happiness and relief washed over him. He bent slightly at the waist to look into Tenzo's face. "Are you okay?"

Tenzo couldn't respond. He couldn't tell whether he was still dreaming or not, or whether he was hallucinating. He tried to speak but no sound came out. He tried to make eye contact with Kakashi, but everything was blurry and he couldn't get his eyes to focus. He couldn't tell whether he was breathing too fast or not at all.

"Captain Yamato?" Sai's voice sounded distant. Pakkun whimpered at Tenzo's feet.

"We need to get him to a medic," Kakashi said, slipping Tenzo's free arm around his shoulders. It was the last thing Tenzo remembered before blacking out.


	6. Chapter 6

The walls of the medical tent swayed gently in the breeze. The sun had set and the air was cool and damp. Kakashi slowly lowered himself to the ground beside Yamato's bed, resting his back against the steel legs of the cot. He listened to the shallow, steady breathing of the sleeping captain and matched his own to the slow rhythm.

"I think we're okay here for now," Shizune's voice sounded as she came back into the tent, removing her gloves and wiping her brow with the back of her sleeve. "His condition is stable, so we'll leave him to rest." She dropped her gloves into a waste bin and quickly washed her hands, then slipped on a fresh pair of gloves. "Let me take a look at your wounds next, Kakashi." He complied silently, except for the slight groan that escaped him as he stood up. Shizune reached out a hand, not quite touching his back but ready to catch him if he fell. He sat down on an empty cot near Tenzo's—there was just one sleeping shinobi between them—and removed his vest and shirt. Without looking up, Shizune handed him a paper mask like the one she was wearing. He raised his eyebrows, pleasantly surprised at the small courtesy, and slipped the mask on. Shizune worked efficiently, saying little except to ask him to take deep breaths when she checked his lungs and to ask him whether it hurt when she pressed down on his abdomen or spine. She had been working all day and would probably be working all night, but she never gave a sign of being tired, except when she had wiped her brow before. She asked him to lie down and she cleaned the lacerations on his chest, and then she turned her attention to the stab wound in his side.

"I think there's some internal bleeding here," she said. "I'm going to put you under a genjutsu for about thirty minutes while I perform a quick surgery to patch things up. Very routine, nothing to worry about."

"Okay." She was so used to saying things like that and he was so used to hearing them that there was no need to make a big deal of it.

When Kakashi woke up the next morning, he was disoriented. He opened his right eye to see sunlight shining through the white canvas of the tent. He reached for his headband to pull it over his sharingan, but then he remembered that he didn't have it anymore. He opened his left eye and stared up at the roof of the tent. He felt like his peripheral vision gave him a 360 degree view of the world—it had been so long since he had spent any length of time with both eyes open—even though in actuality his vision was now entirely ordinary. Out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of yellow-blond hair.

"Naruto?" He shot up in bed, sending a stitch of pain through his side.

"Hey! Kakashi-sensei! Um . . . are you okay?" He was leaning back in a wheelchair. Almost his entire body was covered in bandages, and his left eye was still swollen shut, but he had a smile on his face.

"I'm just surprised to see you up and about," Kakashi said.

"He insisted that Sakura help him into a wheelchair and bring him over here," Sai explained. He was sitting in a little folding chair by Naruto's side. He paused, as if for effect. "And when she said no, he asked Hinata!"

Kakashi chuckled.

"The boys were just updating me about what I missed during the war." The quiet, raspy voice startled Kakashi.

"Tenzo. Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay," he answered, not entirely convincingly. "What about you, senpai?"

"Yes, I'm fine thanks to our Team Seven," Kakashi shot a proud-looking glance at Naruto. Tenzo smiled and settled back into his pillows, closing his eyes while Naruto continued his narrative. But when the boys left, he asked him again.

"Are you okay?"

Kakashi sat up carefully, looking intently over the other injured shinobi.

"Yes, I'm okay. You should be worried about yourself; I mean, I am; you sound like you can barely speak."

"I mean," Tenzo continued slowly, disregarding the last remark. "About Obito."

"Oh." Kakashi took a deep breath. "Yeah. About Obito." Tenzo said something, but Kakashi couldn't hear. With some effort, he stood up and walked over to Tenzo's bed, bringing his IV drip with him. The chair that Sai had pulled up was still there, and Kakashi sat. "What?"

"I said, Naruto only seemed to know you had worked together."

"Yeah, I haven't really told him that whole story."

"You haven't really even told me the whole story," Tenzo whispered. "Not that you have to. To be honest I know most of it."

"Small village," Kakashi sighed. But if he was being honest, it was sort of a relief that he knew. Even Gai, despite knowing that both of his teammates died, didn't know that he had killed Rin with his own hand, accident or not—or if he did know, he pretended not to.

"He helped us in the end," Kakashi added after a long silence.

"I heard."

"The last thing he did was to use his kamui to save me."

"Hm. Naruto didn't mention that part."

"There was a lot going on. Obito and I were guarding Naruto and Sasuke against Kaguya's jutsu. He probably just thought she missed, but it was Obito who saved me while guarding Naruto. He was impaled and then he . . . his body literally crumbled to ash, right before our eyes." Tenzo closed his eyes, his brows lowering sympathetically. There was nothing he could say. When he looked back up, Kakashi's eyes were narrowed as if he was remembering something critically.

"He saved me the first time too. The first time he—well, we thought he died. He was pushing me out of the way of a falling boulder because I had been knocked unconscious by a falling rock. He was still alive when he asked Rin to take his eye and give it to me. And I just . . . left him there. Left him for dead." He wasn't looking Tenzo in the eye anymore. He was just staring at the bedsheets in a sort of frozen horror. Tenzo reached out to place a hand on Kakashi's. After a long pause, he ventured:

"You think you should have saved him?"

"Yes, of course. In fact, if I could have done that maybe this entire war could have been avoided. Even, you . . ."

"I mean, do you think you _could_ have saved him?" This question, though only slightly different, gave Kakashi pause. "As a what, ten year old?"

"I was thirteen."

"You were a child."

"I was a jonin."

"You were injured and outnumbered," Tenzo managed, "I mean, how could you – why do you always think it's your responsibility to protect everyone?" His voice, though still quiet, had gained some strength. He sounded almost angry. "Sometimes you just can't . . . no matter how much you want to, sometimes . . . it's just not possible. No matter how strong you get . . . why didn't you ever learn that?"

Kakashi stared at him for a moment. His face was shadowed ghoulishly by the sun coming in through the tent walls. There were dark circles under his sunken eyes. Though he was younger than Kakashi, he looked much older.

"I . . . I don't know," Kakashi muttered, his voice defensive.

Tenzo sighed, his critical expression dissolving. "It's a good thing. It means you're not helpless. But you have to stop blaming yourself for everything. It's not healthy." He took his hand away and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry. I need to rest for a minute."

Kakashi lifted himself from the chair and shuffled back to his own cot, but when he lay down, he kept watching Tenzo—the rise and fall of his chest. What was all this about helplessness? It reminded him of something Naruto had told him.

"Yamato-taichou is really awesome!" He had gushed while visiting Kakashi in the hospital after their first mission with the new captain. "He bought us all this delicious food, he took us to a hot spring . . . but he's also a little scary. Sometimes his face gets all shadowed and it's just creepy! Also, he said he's not like you, Sensei. He said he can't smile and say he won't let anything happen to us. Like he's trying to threaten us or something—I guess he wants to keep us on our toes or something."

At the time Kakashi just thought Tenzo was being strict. That he was forcing them to grow up by acting like their peer rather than a teacher or father figure who could make up for their mistakes. That it was ANBU philosophy to treat all team members the same and let natural selection run its course on those who couldn't cut it. But now he was starting to think that the warning came from further back than his ANBU training.

 **Author note:**

Thanks for reading and for your comments! The next chapter will be up in a few days :)


	7. Chapter 7

On the third day after the war had ended, those who could return to their own villages had done so. Even Naruto and Sasuke had returned to the Hidden Leaf as patient and prisoner. The only people left in the battlefield tents now were those too weak to be moved and the medical ninja who were staying to care for them. Kakashi had asked to stay with Tenzo and Gai, but truth be told he also didn't feel up to making the journey back just yet. He was still sleeping late into the day when he was startled awake by the sound of several medical ninja talking over each other.

"His chakra level is dropping," a nervous-sounding nurse said.

"We're losing him."

"Let me take a look." That voice was familiar—it was Sakura. Kakashi blinked to clear his sleepy vision.

"Captain?" Sakura continued; "can you hear me?"

Kakashi's heart skipped a beat.

"Beginning chakra infusion," Sakura said. Kakashi stood up as quickly as he could on his shaking legs. He watched in horror as Sakura placed her hands over Yamato's chest. He lay motionless.

"What's going on?" Kakashi couldn't help but ask.

"His chakra is dangerously low," one of the nurses said, not really explaining. Suddenly there was a cracking noise like the sound of branches breaking in a storm.

"What was that?" Asked one of the other medics. "Did you break his ribs?"

Before Sakura could answer, a tree began to grow out of the Yamato's chest, filling the room within seconds and lifting the tent out of the ground.

"What the hell?" One of the medics yelled.

"It's his kekke genkai!" The medics jumped back, but one of them was struck by a branch and fell to the ground. Kakashi ran over to Sakura and Yamato, accidentally pulling out his IV in the process.

"Captain, please wake up," Sakura begged. "Please stop your jutsu!" Yamato cried out in pain. Kakashi couldn't tell whether he was conscious or not.

"What did you do, Sakura-san?" The other medic yelled.

"You gave him too much!" Sakura ignored their criticism and tried to focus on how to stop the jutsu. The other medics had started to get the other patients out of the way. Kakashi wished he still had his kamui.

"Earth style: mud wall!" It was the best he could come up with to shield the other patients, and in his current state even that was exhausting. The branches of the growing tree bent against the mud wall and cracked. The growth of the tree had gotten slower. Eventually it slowed to a stop, but the tree remained. Sakura concentrated her chakra into a sharp blade and cut the trunk as close to Yamato's chest as she could without risking hurting him. Moving quickly, she caught the tree in both arms.

"Watch out! I'm putting the tree down here!" She called before tossing it down in a clearing where the war had created a desert. The other medics grumbled in disbelief, tending to the wounded medic and the patients who had been struck or knocked over by the sudden forest. The tent was in tatters on the ground several feet away from its original location, and medical supplies had been scattered and damaged. But while the other medics tended to the destruction, Sakura turned her attention immediately back to the captain. Even when he was well, a jutsu of that magnitude took a lot out of him. She had infused him with a high dose of chakra, but that was only because his was at the point that usually only a shock can save a patient with levels that low. Now she really feared for the worst. The trunk of the tree had withered away, and his chest was back to normal, except for the fact that his skin was unsettlingly pale and cold. His eyes were closed, his expression placid. She moved her hands tentatively over his body. She couldn't feel any chakra at all. She got a heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She glanced up at Kakashi. His eyes were glued to Yamato's face, his brows drawn up and together in worry. That morning when she had checked on them, they had both looked so peaceful in their sleep, their worn faces growing fresh and young again as they healed. But her sensei looked like he had aged ten years in the last ten minutes now.

Grunting in disapproval, she concentrated her energy back on her patient, closing her eyes and blocking out all external stimuli. Finally, she felt movement in his chakra network—a tiny spark, but a sure sign of life. Usually in this situation, she would infuse a bit of her own chakra into the patient to strengthen what little chakra they had, but infusion wasn't an option after what had just happened. Instead, she focused on not letting the small bit of chakra he had be used up.

"Someone bring me a few extra blankets and some hot water," she called. She used her own chakra to maintain his body temperature, steady his breathing, and even keep his heart beating. When the other medics returned with the blankets, she also asked for an oxygen mask. If she could automate these normal tasks, perhaps that small flame of chakra would be enough to last him until he could replenish it just a little. She kept monitoring his chakra level even after she had stabilized his condition. In the past, when she had treated him during missions, his chakra levels had replenished within minutes—he was almost like Naruto in that way. But after half an hour, the little spark of chakra was only a tiny bit bigger. Sakura's back hurt from standing hunched over.

"Kakashi-sensei? Would you pull that little chair closer to the bed for me?" He snapped out of his reverie and complied. Then he sat down himself on the edge of the bed next to Yamato's.

"How is he looking?"

"I'm keeping an eye on his chakra levels. Honestly they're not any better than they were when we tried to do an infusion."

"What do you think went wrong?"

"I've never seen anything like that. His levels have been low for days; I had assumed that it was a side-effect of the venom that Kabuto used. Lady Tsunade and I both thought it would just be a matter of time and rest—in similar cases, it has been. But his chakra levels aren't replenishing, they're getting worse. And it seems like when I tried the infusion, my chakra just went straight through him and he ended up even worse off than before."

"So . . . what does that mean?" Kakashi asked, feeling like a child. "Do you think . . . he'll be okay?"

Sakura sighed.

"I don't know, Sensei."

 **Author note:**

I hope this chapter was not too dramatic for you guys; the next chapter will be . . . even more dramatic, though hopefully not in a predictable way! I hope to post it tomorrow or Thursday :)


	8. Chapter 8

"Senpai?"

It was a whisper so quiet it would usually have been inaudible, but Kakashi had been listening for just such a sound all night.

"Hey! You're awake!"

"Where . . ."

"We're in the hospital," Kakashi explained. "Back in Konoha; we're back home."

"Oh . . ." Tenzo didn't remember having traveled. "Is . . . is the war over?"

"Yes. Everything's okay." Kakashi reassured him, but he was disappointed that he seemed not to remember.

"That's right . . . Naruto . . ."

"That's right," Kakashi smiled. "Our team did a great job. How do you feel?" He pushed his chair closer to the bed and put a hand on Tenzo's forehead. He still felt clammy. Tenzo opened his mouth to try to say "okay," but what came out was an expression of pain. Something seemed off. Why was he in a room by himself? There were so many injured, so it seemed like there would be two or three to a room.

"Where are you in pain?" Kakashi asked.

"Everywhere. Except . . . my limbs. I can't feel anything."

Kakashi sighed. Maybe Lady Tsunade was right. Maybe it was time for desperate measures.

"Do you remember what happened back inside the medical tent?"

"No."

"Your chakra levels had dropped so low that we thought you weren't going to make it. Sakura tried an infusion and your wood style reacted—a tree grew out of your chest and no one could stop it. After that, you were completely out for three days. You were on life support for the first two."

"Oh," he sounded surprised. He took a few moments to think before asking: "was anyone hurt?"

"Not badly."

Tenzo closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Lady Tsunade and Sakura aren't able to diagnose what's going on just yet," Kakashi continued, slowly. "And, unfortunately, they think it would take a long time to do the research they would need to do that. And there are so many other patients, all of the medics are so busy. Also, they're worried that if your chakra levels keep dropping, they might not have the time they need . . ."

"What are you saying, Senpai?" Kakashi tried to gather the courage to tell him. It took so long that Tenzo grew impatient. "Am I dying?"

"No! No," Kakashi insisted, taken aback. "Lady Tsunade thinks it would be best if . . . with her supervision, we ask for help from someone who can make a diagnosis faster."

"Okay?" Tenzo drew the word out as if expecting more.

"Tsunade-sama will be there the whole time," Kakashi assured him. "But um . . . the person treating you would be Orochimaru."

Tenzo's body tensed visibly.

"I . . . um . . . I didn't even know he was still alive," he stuttered.

"Didn't you see him? When you and Sai found me on your way to the medical tents?"

"I thought I was hallucinating." Tenzo shut his eyes tightly. His voice sounded miserable. Finally he looked at Kakashi again. "How is he alive? How is asking for his help even an option?" He tried to sound like he was gathering information, but there was a shakiness in his voice that showed that wasn't the real purpose of the questions.

"Apparently Sasuke was able to revive him using cells stored in Kabuto's body and Anko's curse mark."

"Damn Sasuke! Why?" Tears spilled from the captain's eyes. Kakashi felt helpless. It was the first time he had seen him cry.

"I don't know."

"Senpai. Senpai. Please. I can't . . . please don't let him . . ." Tenzo spoke in fragments, unable to collect himself.

"Tenzo, I have to. I can't . . . there's nothing I can do," Kakashi tried to explain.

"You don't understand. This . . . I can't move. A-and he's the one who . . . when I was a kid, he . . ."

"I know," Kakashi said. His voice was sad, but resigned. Tenzo was on the verge of panic.

"He was my kidnapper! My torturer! Now he's going to be my doctor? And I can't even move! This is my worst nightmare!"

"I know, I know!" Kakashi's eyes were wide; his whole expression was fearful. "I argued with Tsunade, I really tried to convince her that this was a terrible idea, but, Tenzo, if they can't figure out what's going in time, you—" he paused. "I need you to stay alive," he finished. Tenzo stared at him with those wide, dark eyes. Kakashi couldn't read his expression at all. After what seemed like an eternity, Kakashi sat down on the edge of his bed. He placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Tenzo, I know I can't do anything in terms of medical ninjutsu. I can't even monitor what's going on. But I will be here the whole time. I won't let anything happen to you, I swear." Tenzo closed his eyes.

"Senpai." He intended to say something about his overconfidence; that he had just told him a few days ago that he shouldn't always be obsessed with protecting everyone, but he was too tired. "That doesn't even make any sense."

"You mean, for me to be there?" Kakashi asked, puzzled.

"No. I mean . . . if you don't even know what's going on, how can you . . . oh forget it. I do want you there."

Kakashi smiled a little; the kind of smile that didn't reach his eyes and couldn't be seen through his mask. But Tenzo's eyes were closed anyway, and he could feel him smiling.


	9. Chapter 9

"Ready to check out so soon?" The nurse at the front desk asked Kakashi cheerfully.

"Mhm," he responded, not really paying attention as he filled out the paperwork. It was among his shorter hospital stays, especially after a battle like the one they had been through. But without his sharingan, his chakra had recovered faster. Now he was just nursing flesh wounds, and that could be done at home. But he didn't leave after he finished the paperwork, as much as he might have wanted to. He had developed a schedule of checking on his friends, and he was headed to Gai's room where the normally energetic shinobi was lying unconscious in an iron lung. Tsunade was standing by the machine, making notes on Gai's chart.

"Kakashi, just the man I was looking for."

"Me? Why so?"

"I'm guessing you just signed your discharge papers, so I'm going to put you to work."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Work? Already?"

"Listen, Kakashi, I'm swamped here. There are so many injured shinobi and so many medical mysteries from the war. Gai's treatment alone is taking half my time and I just don't have the time to plan memorial services and improve morale and reform the ANBU and secure peace treaties . . ."

"I'm not really following."

"I'm a medic at heart. You know that. But the hokage's duties are essential for ensuring that the village continues in peace; and not just the village, but the world . . . we need someone to ensure that this peace and the relationships established with the other villages lasts. I think you can do it."

"What?" Kakashi raised his hands in protest. "Surely you're not . . ."

"Why not? After Pain's attack you were almost made hokage anyway. You were even acting hokage for a time. Besides, you played a huge role in the war and people love you more than ever." Kakashi got an uncomfortable but not entirely unpleasant feeling in his gut.

"Well, it's not like I . . . it was mostly Naruto, and Sakura and Sasuke helped. And . . . Obito helped." Come to think of it, Obito had even told him to become hokage. He hadn't thought about it at all since the battle; he had been too focused on other things and it wasn't like that had ever been a dream of his.

"They couldn't have done it without you. And clearly none of your students fits the bill for hokage, although," she added with a smile, remembering her bet, "Naruto might do a good job of it yet." After a pause, she added, "Kakashi, you have the experience that a hokage needs. I'll help you for the first few months, and Shikamaru Nara has agreed to take his father's place as a strategist. You'll have veterans like Raidou in your personal guard plus the whole intelligence division and the elders. The hokage might be the frontperson of the village, but there is more support than you might think behind the role. Otherwise I would've been completely lost." Kakashi's nose wrinkled in a disgruntled expression, but it was hidden by his mask so only his bored, sleepy eyes gave away his displeasure.

"I guess you didn't want to be hokage either," he acknowledged. "So now it's my turn to shoulder it for a while."

"You're damn right," Tsunade agreed, quickly making another mark on Gai's chart. But when she looked back up, her eyes danced with humor. "Kakashi, when Jiraiya asked me to act as hokage, I hated the idea. I wanted to keep shifting from den to den, racking up gambling debts and drinking until my head spun and beating myself up over the past. But becoming hokage was the best thing that could have happened to me. I was responsible for something big and it was terrifying. But I got to reintegrate into the village, and I got to see those kids grow up: Sakura, Naruto . . . it really is like Sarutobi-sensei said, Kakashi. They become your family." She was quiet for a moment, but then she looked again at the chart, the fond expression not leaving her face. "But now, it's time for me to go back to what I do best. And they need me here. It's your turn to take the reins."

Kakashi took a moment to take it in. He looked over at Gai and had a sudden flashback to when he had congratulated him the first time he had been considered as hokage, going so far as to give him flowers. He had been so happy when Kakashi had asked for his support that he had cried. Now he was in need of Tsunade, and not only was medical ninjutsu what she did best, she _was_ the best. If she stayed here, eventually he would have Gai's support. Maybe it was possible, if he had people like that to rely on.

"You know," he finally admitted, "Obito did tell me to become hokage. Before he died." _Actually, come to think of it, it was after._ But Kakashi didn't need to make himself sound crazy. Tsunade's face took on an incredulous expression. She sighed.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

Before she could answer, the door opened and Lee and Tenten stepped into the room.

"Hello, Kakashi-sensei; Tsunade-sama," they greeted the two adults before shuffling to the chairs they had claimed as their own. The four of them in the room at the same time wasn't all that unusual in the past several days, so they didn't bother to ask whether they were intruding. Tsunade also didn't bother to slow the conversation after she had returned their greeting.

"You're very pure, Kakashi," she continued. "I'm just a little amazed that after everything that happened, you'd still take Obito's wishes so much to heart."

"I remember Jiraiya saying that a ninja's life isn't measured by the way he lives," Kakashi responded, stealing a glance at Gai's students but not bothering to stop, "but the way he dies—by what he did before he died. He wrote that in one of his books. Not Icha Icha," he clarified, blushing. "Something I read a long time ago. I never really understood what he meant—I just thought, isn't what a person does before they die the same thing as the way they live? But I think I know what he was trying to say now. It's how we end up remembering them." Suddenly a pang of regret hit him as he realized what he was implying and in whose presence. "I'm not sure if that's the way it should be . . . I'm sure the two of you wouldn't agree," he added sympathetically to Lee and Tenten, suddenly realizing that Obito had killed their teammate. Lee's fists tightened at the memory.

"On the contrary." Tenten's quiet, even voice came as a bit of a surprise. She wasn't usually the first to speak in that group. "I think that's exactly how Neji would have wanted to think of it." She spoke slowly, sounding older than her years. "After all, he also did some things he wasn't proud of. But in the end he sacrificed his life to save those he loved." She was looking down at the tiles on the floor, but she looked up at Tsunade when she felt her hand on her shoulder.

"Well said, Tenten." The young kunoichi gave a little smile at the encouragement from her hero.

"Yes, Tenten! That is exactly how Neji would want us to think about it," Lee chimed in, suddenly rid of his anger. Tsunade turned her attention back to her intended successor.

"So, you'll think about it, Kakashi?"

"I suppose," he conceded.

"Think about what?" Lee asked.

"Kakashi here is going to be the Rokudaime Hokage," she said, with a proud little smile, placing a hand on Kakashi's shoulder. The smile felt like a seal on his fate, and the hand felt like a weight. He slouched a little under the pressure. Maybe he shouldn't have taken Obito's words so much to heart after all.

Later that day, Kakashi followed Izumo and Kotetsu to the hokage's tower at a pace that was frankly uncomfortable on his barely-healed wounds. He had been rushed around by Tsunade who simultaneously checked on patients and briefed him on his first duties as hokage; duties that would need to be performed that day. In addition to the stress of completing tasks as the hokage before he had any idea how to go about them, he felt the slow ache of regret as he thought about abandoning Tenzo.

When Tsunade had announced his promotion, Tenzo's face had lit up with genuine happiness. When Kakashi had apologized for having to miss his treatment, Tenzo had even laughed.

"Kakashi-senpai, you don't really think – I want you to tend to the village," he had said, a little embarrassed at the implication that he would demand Kakashi's attention when it was so obviously needed elsewhere. "Don't worry about me," he insisted, "I'll be fine."

But as Kakashi followed the two iconic village guards, he couldn't help but think about a time shortly after Team Ro was formed when the team was sleeping under the stars and Kakashi had woken up from a nightmare in the middle of the night to find the warmth of another body against his own. He had been sleeping on his back with his hands behind his head, and when he looked up, he found Tenzo curled into the fetal position with the curve of his back nestled by Kakashi's side. He would have thought it was strange if he hadn't felt so certain that a formal former ROOT member like Tenzo would never have gotten that close to him on purpose. Actually, even among the regular ANBU, few dared to get close to "friend-killer Kakashi", who ate by himself and fought like a sadist. Though he never would have admitted it, he was comforted by the other boy's presence.

He wasn't sure if the other ANBU ever thought anything of it. At the time, he thought they were just too intimidated by the two of them to say anything. Looking back, they probably felt some sort of parental relief that the two eerie and traumatized children could still seek solace like normal human beings.

Back at the hospital, Tsunade was brushing up on Yamato's chart in preparation for Orochimaru's arrival, in cuffs, delivered by two of her personal ANBU.

"Now, I know the two of you have a history, so I've asked him to take it slowly and explain everything as he goes, so you and I will both know exactly what's going on," she assured her patient.

"Yes, Godaime-sama," he replied, without making eye contact. Despite being bed-ridden he was as formal as if he were standing in her office in ANBU regalia, mask included.

"We really tried to avoid this. We have a good idea what's going on, but it will just be much faster for him to treat it," she explained for the third or fourth time.

"I know, Godaime-sama," he responded. His heart rate was slow and steady on the monitor. Probably slower than Tsunade's. In truth, she was anxious about seeing Orochimaru again too, especially as a medic. She couldn't shake the memory of him proposing that they dispatch an injured Jiraiya to aid their own escape during the third great ninja war, despite being a medic then as well.

"Okay. He'll be here soon. I'm going to give you a mild sedative, just so that –"

"Oh, no," Yamato interrupted, finally showing a small sign of stress. "Please don't give me anything, Tsunade-sama. I want to be aware of what's going on, if possible."

"Very well," Tsunade agreed, putting aside the syringe. "Just try to relax for now," she sighed, "He'll be here any minute."

 **A/N:**

Thank you guys so much for your comments! It's super motivating to know that you guys like reading this and to see your suggestions and preferences!


	10. Chapter 10

There were footsteps in the hall. Tenzo could feel their chakra signatures; he couldn't recognize chakra signatures like Naruto could, but there were some people whose chakra was so distinctive, so palpable that a skilled jounin could pick them out. Especially if they were familiar.

Tenzo took a deep breath. The air was cold and tense. The only sounds in the room were the tapping of Tsunade's foot against the tiles and the beeping of his heart monitor. Despite his best efforts, the beeping got faster as he felt Orochimaru's ominous chakra approaching. In general, he was good at hiding his emotions, but it wasn't possible to hide his body's natural reaction this time.

"You okay?" Tsunade asked, but before he could answer, the doorknob turned.

"Lady Hokage?" A masked ANBU stuck her head through the door. "The prisoner is here."

"Proceed," Tsunade replied. The ANBU shot Tenzo a look that probably conveyed concern under her featureless mask.

"Good afternoon." Tenzo's shoulders tensed when he heard the familiar raspy voice. The cordial tone didn't seem to fit it.

Orochimaru was wearing the normal white uniform worn by the medical team; his hair was pulled back neatly and he wore gloves, for once. Still, the markings around his eyes, his pale skin, and especially that drawling, hissing voice brought Tenzo back to a time he tried to pretend didn't exist. He tried to focus on anything but him.

The two ANBU were familiar—Uzuki Yugao had been a member of Team Ro when Kakashi was captain and later when he himself had taken over command. The other Tenzo didn't know intimately but recognized by his eagle mask and sandy, spiky hair. He couldn't remember his current code name but a few months ago he'd been going by Kosuke. Tsunade had put a lot of thought into not embarrassing him with a weak first impression—they both already knew and respected Mokuton no Tenzo.

"Go ahead and take off his cuffs," Tsunade permitted, her voice quiet but commanding. "Please stand guard outside the door and come in if I call you." The two ANBU nodded their agreement and left the medical nin to their patient.

"Here's his chart," Tsunade added, handing the clipboard to Orochimaru. "I'll brief you on what we already know."

Orochimaru nodded and began silently reading the chart, glancing up every now and then at Tenzo.

"We had one of our Hyuuga medics take a look," Tsunade informed him. "His chakra network is intact—no specific breaks or blockages—but it's become permeable, like a membrane. The chakra seems to be leaking out as he generates it; and moreover, he's expending more than he normally would even by using a jutsu. The way she put it, it's almost the opposite of what the Gentle Fist does. Instead of blocking chakra flow, it's flowing so freely that he ends up too drained even to do normal civilian tasks. Actually, it seems to me like it's more like the Eight Inner Gates than anything else—it just works on the chakra network instead of the muscles. It seems to allow more chakra to be expended than is actually good for the body."

Orochimaru nodded.

"I've spoken to Kabuto," he began. "Apparently he modified a jutsu that I developed many years ago to use on myself. It was intended to release a quick burst of chakra but it ended up leaving me so drained that even I deemed it too dangerous." He thought for a moment, placing a finger on his chin. "However, that was meant to work on a one-time basis, not be a permanent or long-standing condition. It seems that with a few adjustments Kabuto found a sweet spot where the subject would survive for a long period of time but be incapacitated. Not very useful for the subject, but perfect for what Kabuto wanted to do. Of course, you need the right candidate for something like this. Someone whose cells regenerate quickly enough to sustain life under extreme stress and whose chakra control is tight enough that a burst of chakra like the one I heard Ms. Haruno gave you doesn't result in instant death," he explained, now addressing Tenzo directly.

Tenzo felt nauseous at being called "the right candidate". Images of fifty nine children whose cells didn't "regenerate quickly enough to sustain life under extreme stress" sprang to mind. He steeled his expression and tried to clear his mind of thought. It was a skill he had cultivated in ROOT. _Not everyone can think of nothing,_ Danzo had mused, when he told him about the coping mechanism. _It must be because you spent your first four years in such an . . . impoverished environment. It seems like it did you some good . . ._ But it was getting harder and harder to do. Now it just reminded him of Danzo.

"So, did Kabuto develop a counter-jutsu?" Tsunade's voice brought him back to the present.

"Fortunately Kabuto has always been more meticulous that me," Orochimaru replied, flipping the pages of the clipboard back into their original position. "It seems like after the war he was interested in keeping his prisoner alive, but perhaps not in restoring his health. The sealing jutsu he devised would prevent his chakra from dropping to dangerous lows, but wouldn't allow him to use ninjutsu."

Tenzo felt a wave of disappointment. He couldn't help but think of Gai's situation.

"We want him good as new," Tsunade insisted.

"Well, I don't know about _new_ ," Orochimaru responded with a snide expression. "We want him to be as good as before the war, no? We don't exactly know _what_ a true factory reset would look like on this one."

Tsunade sneered. He just couldn't help himself, could he?

"Alright," he continued, not seeming to notice the discomfort of either his patient or his former teammate. "Now that we're both briefed, let me get started with the examination."

"Are you ready, Yamato?" Tsunade asked, poising her hands over the sheet covering him.

"Yes."

She folded the sheet back to expose his torso and Orochimaru approached, his hands glowing with green chakra.

"Just relax," he said in that slithering voice. Tenzo closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on something else. His team. Kakashi and Naruto and Sakura and Sai and –

He gasped. Orochimaru's chakra hit him like cold water—no matter how much mental preparation he had had, it was still a shock. Tsunade positioned herself at the head of the bed and placed her hands over his shoulders.

A wave of her soothing chakra washed over him. She wasn't infusing it into his chakra network, just directing it over his muscles and joints like she would to relieve physical pain. More than anything, the mild, steady warmth of her chakra was a reminder that he wasn't alone.

For a few moments as Orochimaru extended his chakra through Tenzo's body, it felt as if Orochimaru's and Tsunade's chakra were at war inside him. He tried to imagine Orochimaru's cold chakra having once been thought of as soothing too, tried to imagine a time when he was a trusted Konoha nin just like Tsunade or Jiraiya or Kakashi, but all he could think about were dank lairs and clandestine labs, pain and needles and poison, the impossibility of escape and the inability to do anything for himself or others. He opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling, trying to focus on Tsunade instead of Orochimaru but unable to take his eyes off the former rogue shinobi—if "former" could be applied at all.

"Yamato?" Tsunade made him focus on her. "You're doing fine. It's almost over, just hang in there." He focused on her cedar-brown eyes and—

"Alright," Orochimaru said, withdrawing his chakra and his hands. "I've got a pretty good idea of the situation." Tenzo closed his eyes and worked on slowing his breathing. Tsunade kept her chakra on him for a few seconds until he'd calmed down a bit.

"You okay?"

"Yes," he responded quickly. Orochimaru stared at the patient for a few minutes as if he didn't understand why he was trembling.

"The examination shouldn't have been painful," he ventured.

"It's because it's you," Tsunade snapped. "You kidnapped him, remember?"

"That was . . . so long ago," Orochimaru replied as if it was unreasonable to hold a grudge over something so small. It made Tenzo feel ashamed. After he'd been found in Orochimaru's labs all those years ago, it had taken him a while to understand that children didn't belong in tanks, that not only were the deaths of the other test subjects wrong but his whole life had been one of abuse. He didn't think he would have to defend himself on that, but fortunately he didn't have to.

"You think there's a timetable on those kinds of things?" Tsunade retorted, her voice sharp and scolding. "Besides, if I recall correctly it was your little protégé who imprisoned him less than a month ago and put him through hell all over again. And it was your jutsu that screwed up his chakra network, so don't act like you're some wronged and wounded medical nin mistrusted by your patient."

"I just . . . didn't know he remembered me," Orochimaru explained, still only addressing Tsunade and casting a sidelong glance at Tenzo. "And I didn't know my treatments . . . affected him in that way. He seems to have benefitted from the first hokage's cells . . ." Now Tenzo was angry. He wished he could use the mokuton now to pin Orochimaru to the wall and ask "how's that for benefitting from his cells?"

"That doesn't excuse—" he started, at the same time as Tsunade. When she heard his quiet voice, she quieted her own strong one. "—what you did," he finished. "I wasn't a willing subject in your experiments and there are fifty nine other children who didn't make it out like I did. Who didn't . . . make it out at all," he muttered. _Why am I doing this? Why am I trying to make him feel bad?_

Orochimaru sighed and pulled off his gloves.

"You're right," he admitted. "What I did to those kids . . . what can I say? I was blinded by my thirst for knowledge. It was war time, and I wanted desperately to find a power that would give us the advantage. I thought that if I could revive the mokuton, that it would not only give us physical strength but also boost morale. Hashirama was a healer. Not just a medical ninja, he himself healed quickly. I thought his cells would only enhance shinobi. I didn't even consider that his cells could do harm. But even when they were rejected by older shinobi, I was enticed by every semblance of success. I started trying younger and younger until I was experimenting on infants. And it looked better—several survived for three, four years in tanks. But then my lab was discovered and by then you were the only one left. I figured it was only a matter of time before you too would succumb, but you didn't. It's fascinating—I still can't help but be interested in how you managed it."

"I didn't manage it," Tenzo insisted. He felt as if a ghost of survivor's guilt had followed him all these years and was catching up again. "I just . . . got lucky."

"Hm. Indeed." Orochimaru seemed amused, lost in thought. After a pause, Tsunade spoke up again.

"What's your plan for his treatment?"

"Hm?" Orochimaru looked up as if woken. "Since we know he responds well to Hashirama's cells, I think we can use stem cells to restore his chakra network. With something so extensive, it will take several small introductions of stem cells, and it will be risky because he can't expend much chakra as it is. The safest way to do it is to submerge him in a life-sustaining pod so that he doesn't need to expend chakra on regulating his body temperature or breathing." Tsunade took a deep breath.

"You mean a tank. Like the ones where you kept your subjects."

Orochimaru shrugged.

"You understand the reasoning behind it. You have to admit, it is more effective than the life support you used a few days ago and it's his best chance for surviving a time-consuming procedure."

"Surely there's a better way," Tsunade insisted.

"Well, we could use the sealing jutsu I mentioned earlier but then his chakra network will be overlain with a foreign chakra and we won't be able to actually repair it with stem cells. The sealing jutsu will leave him in a weakened state for the rest of his life, which seems like a pretty horrible fate for someone who's been an ANBU since he was four years old."

"What if we used the traditional life support and introduced the cells more slowly?" Tsunade asked.

"He would die before the procedure was complete if his chakra keeps depleting at the rate it has been. I think using a tank is best—it's also the least painful." Least painful. Tenzo felt nauseous.

"Can I have a say in this?" He spoke up, raising his voice as much as he could.

"Yes, of course," Tsunade responded, looking slightly abashed at not having involved him sooner. When he spoke, his voice was low and tentative, but decisive.

"I would rather die."

 **Author's note:**

It took sort of a long time to write this chapter because I wasn't quite sure how much medical drama you guys could stand, etc., but finally I just decided to go ahead and publish it so we can get on to future chapters. As always, thanks for your comments and for reading; I never thought that I would end up writing ten chapters of this or that you guys would read ten chapters but here we are. It's been a lot of fun writing and reading your comments!


	11. Chapter 11

Sakura and a nurse wheeled a cot into Tenzo's room. He wondered at first if he was being deemed safe enough (or sick enough) for a roommate, but the bed was empty.

"What's that for?" He asked.

"The hokage," Sakura replied. Tenzo gave her a puzzled look.

"You know Kakashi-sensei will be coming here as soon as he finishes his work," she explained. "Tsunade-shishou and I figured he might as well get a good night's sleep."

"Oh," said Tenzo, feeling somewhat embarrassed. When the bed was in position, the two medical nin made to leave, but Sakura stopped at the door.

"Captain . . . can I ask how your treatment is going? Tsunade-shishou hasn't told me anything . . . I mean, it's none of my business and all medical information is on a need-to-know basis, so, you know, we're not trying to invade your privacy or anything, I just . . ." She stuttered. Her concern was endearing. He had forgotten how kind the members of Team Seven could be. He forced a smile.

"Everything's fine, Sakura," he assured her. She gave a little smile as if disappointed at the lack of detail, but she restrained herself from asking any more.

"Okay. Well, you just look after yourself, okay? Let me or a nurse know if you need anything." He nodded as she left the room.

/

Kakashi arrived a couple of hours after sundown. He crept into the room, but Tenzo was already awake.

"Hokage-sama," Tenzo greeted him.

"Ugh, how many times have I heard that today?" Kakashi complained, rubbing the back of his head. "You of all people should just stick to 'Kakashi.'" He plopped down on the empty cot. "Is this for me?"

"Sakura knew you'd be coming."

"Good old Sakura," he said. As if suddenly reminded of his errand, his disposition suddenly changed. He leaned forward and looked attentively into Tenzo's face. "How did it go today?"

Tenzo turned his head to look at the ceiling instead of Kakashi's sympathetic eyes.

"I don't really want to talk about it. Tell me about your day instead." Kakashi looked confused for a moment. He certainly hadn't expected not to hear _anything_. Was this his kohai who had shed tears in front of him yesterday? Why was he being so cold?

"Well . . . uh, it was mostly paperwork," he said. "I was writing to the other kage. Maintaining peaceful relations and all that. And uh, planning the memorial service. It was emotional work—most of today was gathering information so no one is left out who . . ." suddenly he stopped, noticing Tenzo's closed eyes and furrowed brow. "Anyway, I don't really want to talk about that either," he sighed, taking off his gloves and headband and lying back on the bed. "It's been a long day for everyone." Tenzo glanced over at him with a grateful expression. After a pause, he spoke.

"I was wondering if . . . maybe you'd read to me?"

"What?" Kakashi sat up. "Read what?"

"Oh I don't know . . . just, since you're here, I thought it would be nice . . . seems like you like to read when stressed out. Just read from that book in your pocket."

"Oh, that?" Kakashi seemed to be getting nervous. "I don't know . . . I don't think it's really your style . . . it's just an old book of Jiraiya's . . ."  
"So? It doesn't have to be great literature or anything, I just get bored lying here all day . . . you have to make your own entertainment in a hospital you know."

"But . . . but," Kakashi stuttered, already beet-red.

"Come on senpai," Tenzo begged. His eyes were closed and his voice weak. "I don't have the energy to argue with you . . ." Kakashi's heart sank. Seriously? He pulled out _Icha Icha Tactics_ and opened it to the first page. Why did it have to begin on a sex scene right off the bat?

"The bunker where the two shinobi hid was pitch black," he read, his voice shaking. "'I don't think we're going to make it out of here alive," Ken said, "But I'm glad if we have to go out, at least we're together.' He caressed Shizuyo's hand in the dark. 'I am too,' she replied in a trembling voice, moving closer to him. He felt her lips on his and her hand trailing up his thigh," Kakashi's voice cracked miserably. He looked over at Tenzo to see whether he was blushing too or whether he had lost all respect for his senpai. His eyes were closed, but wrinkled in amusement. His mouth was drawn into a tight-lipped, teasing smile. That bastard.

"Tenzo!" Kakashi scolded. Tenzo opened his eyes and, seeing Kakashi's face red under his mask, started to laugh.

"Sorry, senpai," he coughed. "As I said, you have to make your own entertainment . . ." Kakashi shook his head and snapped the book shut, putting it back into his pocket, but in truth he was glad to see his kohai's sense of humor still intact.

"Yeah, well, fair enough. I'm going to get some sleep."

"Mm. Good night, hokage-sama." He could still hear the smile in Tenzo's voice.

"Yeah, goodnight."

/

The next morning when Tenzo woke, Kakashi had already gone. He had left _Icha Icha Tactics_ on the bedside table, surely as a gesture rather than an oversight, but Tenzo's arms were still too numb to pick it up so he spent the morning staring at the ceiling until Tsunade came into the room.

"Good morning," she greeted him, and began checking his vitals. "Listen, I have a proposition for you."

"Okay?"

"I understand your concern about the treatment. It's almost ironically cruel to put you through the same thing again—"

"It's not that," he interrupted. "I mean, it's . . . that part is bad, but I'm more worried about what he would actually _do_ . . . you couldn't be there 24/7, and I wouldn't want you to be—you've already done more than enough. But while he has me in a tank like that, he could do anything . . . you've seen the extent of his . . . modifications. I don't want him to use me against the village." Kakashi's voice echoed in his ears. _Gathering information so no one is left out who . . ._ who had been killed in the war, many of them by white Zetsu using his jutsu.

"I understand," Tsunade sighed. "Which is why Orochimaru and I discussed some . . . insurance. He's offered to let me place a seal on both of you so that if you were to . . . not make it through the treatment, Orochimaru would die as well. And not just 'die' like in the past, actually die. Even if he does everything right, there's always a chance of a patient not making it. But he's willing to bet his life on being able to help you."

"There's a lot of damage he can do short of killing me," Tenzo argued.

"I know. But in your current state, he'll have to be very careful. And I've already upped the ante. He's given me a sealing formula that will also prevent him from setting a curse mark. I've confirmed that myself from Danzo's records. " Tenzo thought in silence for a moment.

"Does the seal work both ways?" There was an edge to his voice that Tsunade had forgotten could be there.

"No." She didn't ask about his intentions and he didn't volunteer any information. She didn't break eye contact for the moments of silence that followed.

"I know we can't trust Orochimaru," she added, finally. "Trust me, I know as well as anyone. But we could use him right now. Besides the shortage of medical ninja, we could use a poisons expert for the patients who were injured by reanimated shinobi from the Hidden Sand. Of course Suna is sharing its information with us, but a lot of information about forbidden techniques died with Lady Chiyo. I don't want to rely on him, but at this point, I'm willing to take some calculated risks to save as many people as I can. If he can do a good job on your treatment, it's possible that he can help us with others as well."

Tenzo took a deep breath. There wasn't a single part of him that didn't hate the idea of relying on Orochimaru for help. He would still prefer to spend his last days staring at the ceiling until his chakra eked out once and for all, but Tsunade made the decision bigger than him.

"I'll consent," he grumbled, finally. "But please . . . if he screws up, don't give him another chance. And if you need to . . . please don't hesitate to use the seal."

Tsunade nodded gravely.

"I can begin the preparations to place the seal right now."

 **Author's note:**

Hope you guys liked this chapter just one day after the previous one-I am sick at the moment so for better or for worse I have had plenty of time to write this fic. Thanks for your comments on the last chapter(s) and special thanks to SoulOfAFangirl684 for your detailed comments! Re: your comment on Chapter 10, I was also sort of perplexed by the creators' decision to bring Orochimaru back and some of my reasons for writing this fic have been to try to flesh out why the other Konoha nin give him as much freedom as they seem to post-war since I don't want to think of it as pure naivety/just a plot device!


	12. Chapter 12

Every sound was muffled inside the breathable liquid in which Orochimaru submerged his test subjects at the height of his scientific inquiry. In that liquid, there was barely any sensation on the skin, either. Except when new substances were injected in the body, or when new cells were introduced, there was no pain. Just floating. Sixty small children in total, just floating.

He wanted to talk to them, the others. They looked like him. They weren't frightening like the ones that stomped on the ground and made noises. They were just floating, silent, like him, five or ten others in the same room at a time. They would look at each other and smile. They would even communicate, making gestures with their hands to refer to specific people, or events. The small ones who floated were qualitatively different from the large ones who stomped on the ground, but sometimes the large ones smiled at each other too. Sometimes they even emitted a strange sound while smiling, a sound that inexplicably made him feel happy. Sometimes they put their hands on one another's shoulders. He wondered what that felt like.

He wished that he could made noises the way they did, instead of just by scratching on the tank. Sometimes he found his mouth opening instinctively when he was particularly afraid and he wondered if, if one of the bigger ones had done that, a sound would have come out. He wanted to touch one of the others, to see whether putting his hand on someone's shoulder would feel different than putting his hand on the glass tank. He tried to mimic the sounds they made, though they were muffled when he heard them, and he wasn't capable of making any sounds with his fluid-filled lungs. _Lord Orochimaru wants . . ._ he rehearsed, moving his lips like the bigger ones did. Those were the words that came before new things were injected into the tanks. _Stop that scratching._ Those were the words that came before a banging on the tank that made his ears hurt. _This one's dead._ Those were the words that came before they drained a tank and removed one like him. Those were the words he disliked the most. After the tank was drained, the one that had been inside would be laid out on a metal table and there would be needles and scalpels and blood. And that person wouldn't return to the tanks, and he and that person wouldn't look at each other anymore, exchanging silent, secret smiles or gesturing with their hands to convey simple meanings. And he knew, sometimes, when one of the others hadn't opened their eyes in a while, that those words were coming. And he would try to reach them, try to save them somehow, try to get them to open their eyes again. And then he would hear "this one's dead." And then he would hear "stop that scratching."

' ' '

Tenzo opened his eyes slowly. He didn't wake with a start. His heart wasn't beating fast. It was more of a memory than a dream, and he had remembered it a thousand times. He took a deep breath and let out a low hum, testing his vocal chords. Sometimes when he had that dream, he would instinctively bring his hand up to his eye, making a circle with his fingers—the sign that another test subject had made to refer to him; his first name. But he still couldn't move his arms or legs; this time there would be no signing, no scratching.

But there would be accountability. He looked down at the seal burning bright green on his chest. It was still midday and the last thing he remembered was being brought back to his old room after the seal was placed. He wondered how long he'd been asleep, but he felt his eyes getting heavy again already.

"Yamato?" He opened his eyes to see the blond san-nin coming through the door.

"Tsunade-sama."

"We're ready when you are. You okay?"

"Yes. Let's get it over with."

"Funny way to talk about something that will take days, maybe weeks."

"Well. The sooner we start, the sooner we'll finish."

"Mhm. Fair enough." Tsunade made her way to the head of his cot and wheeled him down the hall. He kept his eyes shut against any curious stares.

There was only one part of the hospital where a tank could be kept; their use had been all but discontinued as they were more suitable for experimental alterations than medical treatment. Tsunade had given orders to have the long-empty vessel cleaned and inspected while she placed the seals. Now the room looked like a modern flashback, Orochimaru updated in his innocent hospital getup and three nurses bustling around. Several wires were arranged around a low metal examining table overlain with sanitary paper. The tank loomed large in the middle of the small room.

Tsunade and one of the nurses lifted his body from his cot and placed him on the examining table. The metal was cold against his skin, bare except for a small sheet around his waist. He was glad Sakura wasn't around, professional though she was.

Tsunade explained the functions of each thick tube and wire as she and Orochimaru connected them. His IV was replaced with a more robust feeding tube placed directly in his stomach. Nodes were attached to his chest to monitor his heart rate, and wires and tubes to account for other bodily functions. Finally, Orochimaru produced a set of hundreds of smaller tubes, each one tipped with a needle.

"These will be used to introduce the cells into your chakra network. I realize that it's extensive. It might seem like overkill. But the damage is also extensive so it is necessary. What we'll do is insert these over specific chakra points. They won't actually pierce the chakra network—we want to make sure to avoid further damage there—but the cells will be introduced near those chakra points and I will use medical ninjutsu to adhere them to the network." Tenzo nodded his stoic approval and Orochimaru and Tsunade carefully inserted the needles. He closed his eyes and tried to pretend it was an acupuncture treatment.

"We're going to help you into the tank first, then fill it with fluid," Tsunade explained quietly when the preparations were made.

"Okay," he agreed in a flat voice. Tsunade could have easily lifted him alone, even at his normal weight, but she employed two nurses in addition to herself to lift him carefully and smoothly, and the third nurse to open the hatch at the bottom of the tank. Being lifted hurt—his whole body felt fragile and no matter how they tried to place him in a comfortable position, he ended up slumped down at the bottom of the tank, leaning against the glass siding. The last thing they attached was an oxygen mask covering his nose and mouth.

"I'm sorry for the discomfort," Tsunade lamented. "It'll be better when the tank is full."

The almost fluorescent green liquid began pouring in at a fast rate once Orochimaru had opened a valve. It wasn't cold or hot; because it was meant to maintain a normal body temperature, it had the sensation of not being a temperature at all. Within minutes it was up to Tenzo's chest, and rising rapidly. He closed his eyes as the water rose above his chin and finally over his head. The sound of his breathing, amplified by the liquid, became an all-encompassing sound. Just as Orochimaru had said, he didn't have to use chakra for anything inside the tank—his breathing, his temperature, moving—he was suspended in a perfectly buoyant state. He felt like a fossil.

"How is it?" Tsunade asked after the tank was full. "Do you feel okay?" Tenzo nodded.

"We're going to wait a few hours for everything to stabilize," Orochimaru spoke. "At about six p.m. I'll introduce the first of the stem cells into your chakra network. Tsunade will be present for that."

"Are you okay with me leaving for a few hours?" Tsunade asked. Tenzo nodded again and Tsunade backed out of the room, as if reluctantly, taking the nurses with her. Orochimaru sat down in a folding chair nearby.

"I'll be monitoring your health the whole time," he said casually. "It's in my best interest to make sure this goes smoothly so I'm not taking any chances," he remarked, pointing to his chest where the seal sat beneath his scrubs. He made some notes on Tenzo's chart, looking back and forth from the tank to a set of screens that were constantly outputting information. Eventually he put the chart aside and took out a book. Tenzo couldn't tell whether it was a textbook or a novel, but it wasn't a scroll. It looked entirely innocuous. Still, he remained vigilant, watching Orochimaru's every move to see if he would change something inside the tank. After a few minutes, Orochimaru spoke.

"Listen, I know you're nervous about this whole thing, but it is okay for you to sleep. Tsunade could kill me even without this seal and she wouldn't hesitate to do so if I so much as took a urine sample without her permission. So just try to relax. I know you're tired." Tenzo's expression didn't change, and his eyes didn't close. Orochimaru returned to his reading. For the next two hours, he occasionally checked his patient's vitals, but he didn't look Tenzo in the eye and he never gave another sign that the staring bothered him. Finally, Tsunade came back into the room.

The treatment was painstaking work. Orochimaru spent two hours repairing just a tiny section at the center of the chakra network as a test to see if the stem cells would be able to adhere to the network and whether the repairs would last.

"This would be easier with a visual jutsu like the byakugan," Orochimaru mused as he connected a long syringe to one of the tubes attached to Tenzo's chakra network, "but I could never get ahold of a Hyuuga for my reanimation."

Tsunade gave him a furious look.

"Too soon? Ah, well. No matter. The liquid that he's suspended in is specially designed to amplify chakra signatures, so a skilled medical ninja can carefully pinpoint precise areas of the patient's chakra network. Try it yourself," he suggested. Tsunade put her hands up to the glass as Orochimaru sent a thread of chakra through the wire and into Tenzo's body, finding the cells he had just injected and using his chakra to graft them onto the chakra network. Each time he grafted cells, it felt to Tenzo like a small burn. Each one wasn't painful, per se, but Orochimaru repeated the procedure thirty times, injecting and grafting about a hundred thousand cells at a time. Finally, he set his syringe aside and removed his gloves.

"It looks like it's working," Tsunade said, sounding both relieved and impressed.

"Well, we'll keep an eye on it. But so far, I'm optimistic."

"Hang in there, Captain," Tsunade reassured him, placing a hand on the tank. When she didn't see his face change, she asked, "can he hear inside the tank?"

"Yes, he can hear. But he's not very expressive," Orochimaru complained, sitting back in his chair with a little grunt.

"Yamato, you're okay, aren't you? Are you still okay with continuing the treatment?" She tried again. He met her eyes and gave a small nod. She stood in silence for a moment, staring. Then she remembered the other work she had to do. "Okay, well. Try to get some rest. I'll be back to check on you periodically." He nodded again, the barest of nods, and Tsunade left the room. And then he turned his attention back to Orochimaru, floating and staring with those wide eyes that had earned him his first name.

' ' '

When he finally slept, he dreamed about Kabuto. In flashes, Kabuto's unhinged jaw and half-developed snake form; pale, scaly fingers prying his eyelids open so that Madara—no, it had been Obito—could look inside, his life playing out like a demo reel, spilling every piece of intel he'd been trusted with as well as his most cherished memories, and all his mantras, poems, and mind-clearing techniques couldn't keep him out; the feeling of chakra leaving his body just as uncontrollably—

This time Tenzo woke quickly. He must have jerked awake because Orochimaru looked up.

"Are you alright? Something wrong?" Tenzo shook his head. Shit. He had forgotten not to engage with him.

"You were dreaming?" Orochimaru asked. Tenzo didn't respond but set his jaw. "It's only dreams, you know," Orochimaru continued in strange voice, quiet and ashamed. "You don't need to fear me. I'm like an old cobra whose venom has dried up. I just thought, if Sasuke can come back, then I can also do my part for this shinobi world. Don't worry. I have a motive for helping you, but it's not what you think. It started with you . . . all those years ago. You were one of the first ones—of the infants, at least. The seventh, specifically. I-7. I remember you were the last one when the lab shut down. I want it to start with you again now. If I can treat you successfully, I can be an asset to the village. I can treat others. I can even continue my research. Not like it was, of course. It will be different this time. No unwilling human participants." It was becoming harder and harder to keep a stoic face. Tenzo felt the heat of tears in his eyes at the thought of Orochimaru continuing his research but being submersed in liquid rendered them invisible.

"Are you surprised to hear me saying this?" Orochimaru continued, evidently seeing the tiny change in Tenzo's face and mistaking hatred for surprise. "Don't think my sins escape me. I know what I've done. Yet here I am. There's something beautiful about this culture of forgiveness in the New Shinobi World."

Bubbles obscured Tenzo's face as he breathed out, but when they cleared he looked as deadpan as ever. Orochimaru sighed and sat back in his folding chair.

"Ah, well. I don't expect you to understand."

But he did understand. It was the culture of forgiveness that had redeemed Sai on his first mission with Team Seven, even though Naruto's persistence didn't bring Sasuke back at the time. It was the culture of forgiveness that had defeated Kaguya, even though after everything Sasuke had still tried to murder the five Kage. Even so, it was ultimately the culture of forgiveness that saved the world; after all, Naruto and Sasuke were both needed to break the Infinite Tsukuyomi.

Still, no one was stupid enough to just let Sasuke run free after all that. There couldn't be _just_ forgiveness. As much as he and everyone else admired Naruto, there was no denying that he was naïve. And as endearing as that naivety was, it was dangerous too. Tenzo had seen defectors. Double agents and triple agents. Trusted shinobi turned coat all the time, and this shinobi had been a turncoat for over thirty years. He had turned other shinobi too, going so far as to start his own village in opposition to the Leaf. He couldn't even be trusted to die properly.

Tenzo had never been strong enough to kill him by himself. That was just an unfortunate fact. In the end, he hadn't even been strong enough to fend off Kabuto, hadn't even been able to kill himself before Kabuto could use his cells and his memories as weapons against his people, and the consequences had reached the entire shinobi world. Maybe the culture of forgiveness was good for him too—no one had yet blamed him for anything. But blame or no blame, he would make up for what Kabuto had done using his body and mind. Justice had to be served by the one responsible at the core, and he finally had a weapon that could kill even a sannin. So as soon as he had enough chakra to weave a hand sign, he would make up for it all.

 **A/N:**

Sorry for the delay in uploading this chapter - let me know what you thought of it in the comments! As always, thanks so much for reading. :)


	13. Chapter 13

"Wow," Orochimaru mused as he stared into the tank with wide yellow eyes. "This has taken an interesting turn. It looks at this point like you're actually generating even more chakra than you did before Kabuto's latest modifications. Obviously that's to extract more chakra for the white Zetsu, but I didn't expect the increased chakra production to remain now that the treatment is almost complete. Once we're finished you should have an impressive store indeed." His lips were turned up into an almost proud-looking smile. It wasn't clear whether he was proud of Tenzo or Kabuto. "Fascinating," he murmured, scribbling a note on a small pad.

It had been nine days since the treatment had begun, and Tenzo's hatred for his former captor had only grown the more he stared at him from inside the tank. He was feeling stronger than he had since this whole thing had started over a month ago, and as he built up chakra and finally regained mobility in his limbs, the tank felt more and more like a prison. It was time. Now, before the seal was removed and he lost his opportunity.

Although . . .

. . . he hated the thought of leaving Kakashi.

That morning when he had come to visit, he had brought a book.

"I thought you might be bored," he had said in his own bored voice. "But I got one of yours this time to spare myself the embarrassment."

It was the biography of an architect from the Hidden Waterfall that he had apparently retrieved from Tenzo's bunk at the ANBU headquarters.

"Kinda boring," Kakashi complained, "and you're gonna have a serious late fee at the library, but I guess it's better than me rambling on about my paperwork like yesterday. No wonder you fell asleep."

But after he had read for a while, he changed his position.

"Actually maybe I should have just rambled. Why do you read this stuff? I'm starting to think you might just be a boring person," he had teased. They had been communicating with ANBU hand signs, but to respond to that Tenzo raised his middle finger in a universally recognized gesture. Kakashi had just laughed.

"Well, just make sure you get out of here in a hurry. You won't be so boring once I'm not talking to myself."

/

Tenzo wondered how he would take it afterwards. He remembered him telling him about his father in such a meek and quiet voice, and only after they had known each other for over ten years. Tenzo wished he could tell him that this wasn't like that. Before he had left that morning, Tenzo had used the ANBU sign for "Mission complete." Kakashi had looked puzzled and said tentatively, "that's right, you're almost done. You'll be getting out of here soon." Surely in retrospect he would know what he meant. That this was all a means to an end. But he wished he could make sure. And he wished he didn't have to leave this world that had just come to peace in the first place.

But this wasn't about him or even Kakashi. Shinobi gave their lives for the greater good every day. This was no different. So when the sannin returned to his chair and Tenzo was sure he wasn't looking, he weaved the signs for a jutsu behind his back and began infusing unstable chakra inside a still-leaky network. It was a simple Mokuton that he had used a thousand times, but his body shook with the effort of controlling it. He put his hand over his heart and squeezed his eyes shut.

 _Make it quick_ , he urged himself. He didn't dare to make a noise, even behind his oxygen mask, but he mouthed the words.

"Daijurin no jutsu!"

/

Tsunade was in her laboratory when she heard commotion from down the hall. A second later, she heard the clack of nurses' shoes pattering towards her at a run.

"Lady Tsunade, come quick!" Tsunade sprang up from her chair.

"What's going on?"

"We've got trouble in that room with the tank," the nurse replied, out of breath and already turning around to lead Tsunade to the room.

"I'm sorry, my lady, we couldn't stop him," another nurse said, coming up on the heels of the first. Tsunade's heart pounded and she had a sick feeling in her stomach.

"Orochimaru," she spat the name like a curse under her breath.

"No, my lady," the nurse said in an exasperated voice. "Not him."


	14. Chapter 14

"Naruto!" Tsunade cried as she burst into the room, "what the hell do you think you're doing?"

The blond ninja had his face inches from Orochimaru's and his one good hand grasping the collar of the sannin's scrubs. Yamato, still floating in the tank, gave Tsunade an unamused look.

"Granny Tsunade!" Naruto spun around. "Did you know Orochimaru was here?"

"Of course I did, what do you think I am, an idiot? Let go of him."

"But . . . but why is he here? And why is Yamato-taichou in that . . . that fishtank thingy!"

"I told you. I'm treating his injuries," Orochimaru growled.

"Well you can't blame me for not believing that, you old nutjob!"

"Naruto, calm down. He's telling the truth. The captain has agreed to it."

"Is that true, Captain Yamato?" Naruto asked, dropping the sannin and approaching the tank. Tenzo let out a frustrated breath and nodded.

Damn it. He had been ready. If it wasn't for Naruto bursting in past the guards Orochimaru would be dead by now. But pragmatic or not he wasn't about to off himself in front of Naruto.

"See? Now get out, this is a sterile environment," Tsunade chided.

"But I've still got questions! Why does Orochimaru get to treat him? If Sasuke's locked up, surely Orochimaru should be! And if he's walking around freely, then shouldn't Sasuke also be let out of prison?"

"No, that's ridiculous!" Tsunade's voice cracked with frustration. "Orochimaru is here because he has an ability no one else has right now and it's the only way to help Captain Yamato. How did you even know he was here anyway?"

"I was meditating to see if I had healed enough to go into sage mode. I did, and I felt his chakra so I came down to see what was going on. Then when I got to the door, I felt a spike of Captain Yamato's chakra—"

"What?"

"I thought Orochimaru had broken in or something and Captain Yamato was fighting him off, but when I came in I saw the captain in that fishtank and Orochimaru sitting over there in that chair. He was doing something though, I'm sure of it."

"There was a spike in your chakra? Why?" Tsunade asked Tenzo, though she knew he couldn't really explain.

Tenzo gave the ANBU sign for "all clear" but Tsunade wasn't satisfied.

"What happened?" She asked Orochimaru.

"I don't know," he said nervously, slipping on a pair of gloves and putting glowing hands up to the tank. "It does feel like there was a spike; the chakra is moving a bit erratically in his network but there's no damage to the repairs . . ." he looked up at Tenzo. "Did you do it on purpose?"

Tenzo felt like there was a weight in his chest. If he said no, he would be subjected to tests to figure out what had happened. But if he said yes, he might lose his opportunity. He shook his head mechanically. Orochimaru looked troubled.

"He's got more chakra now so it could be he's having some trouble controlling it with the damaged network," he speculated, under his breath. Tsunade put her hands up to the tank as well.

"Hm. I think we should finish the repairs immediately. Yamato's got among the best chakra control of everyone I know, he shouldn't be having this problem. And you know as well as I do that the wood style gets out of hand without it."

Orochimaru nodded.

"It's not ideal. I would rather find out what caused that spike before I start introducing cells. Especially these cells. If another one happens while we're working on it, the cells could grow rapidly –and even if they don't, the swiftly-flowing chakra could displace the cells as I graft them. I might have to drain a little chakra to make sure it doesn't interfere with the repairs."

Tsunade frowned.

"Don't drain any chakra. Just give him a few minutes to suppress it and then take your time with the surgery."

"Surgery?" She had almost forgotten Naruto was there.

"Yes, it's a procedure he's been having every day for over a week. Everything's fine, now go back to your room. We'll talk about you going into sage mode without my permission later."

"But Granny Tsunade, is Yamato-taichou okay?" He looked worried.

"He's fine." She looked to the tank where Tenzo had closed his eyes and folded his hands in a meditative stance. With her hands still on the tank, she could already feel his chakra begin to cool and relax. "He's excellent, actually."

"Can I stay here for the surgery? I'll sit over there quietly," Naruto asked.

"No."

"But I can go into sage mode and look for any unusual chakra spikes—"

"That won't be necessary. I can look for spikes myself, and you shouldn't be going into sage mode. Go back and rest. I'll have Sakura give you an update on his condition later."

Naruto stole a last glance at the captain, who opened his eyes and gave the "okay" signal with one hand before returning to the meditative position and focusing on calming his chakra again.

"Don't you try anything," Naruto growled to Orochimaru, poking his chest. Tenzo's lips curled into a bitter smile behind his oxygen mask. Naruto had no idea about the seal, but the gesture was coincidentally well-timed. If Orochimaru had known what had almost happened, it might have even put some fear into that canting expression of his.

After Naruto left, Tsunade and Orochimaru spent a few minutes monitoring his chakra and then prepared for the final round of treatment.

The procedure was standard by now, but still tiring for everyone involved. Tsunade's jaw was clenched as she focused intently on his chakra to detect even the slightest change. Orochimaru sweated as he grafted cell after cell, maintaining the same position and the same careful attention for over three hours. Tenzo wasn't sure if it was just him or if the burning sensation was more intense this time. Maybe it was because Orochimaru was working faster. In any case, infusing chakra for his uninitiated jutsu and the subsequent effort of controlling his chakra had exhausted him. As Orochimaru finally removed the syringe and pulled off his gloves, Tenzo could feel his eyes slowly closing in spite of himself. He was vaguely aware of a nurse coming in as Tsunade left.

"Keep an eye on him," the chief medical nin commanded.

/

When Tenzo woke, he felt like a river was flowing through him. His body felt steady and strong as if instead of floating inside the strange liquid his feet were planted on solid ground. These familiar sensations of water and earth that felt so foreign—were they the same as ever and unfamiliar with disuse? Had they always felt this powerful?

There were no windows in the room with the tank, and he had had no concept of time over the past ten days. But now he felt like he could _feel_ the sun, the wind; the morningness. He arched his back, stretching the muscles. The tank suddenly felt smaller, not so much looming as confining, annoying. It was like he suddenly realized he had outgrown it, like when he had realized at three that he was bigger than he was at two, and suddenly the tank didn't seem like such a normal world to live in. That bastard was in his chair with a cup of coffee, that same damn book in his hand, almost finished. A strand of his black hair hung over his face, having come loose from his ponytail. When the hell did he sleep? Did he not need to sleep, having been reanimated who knows how many times? Bubbles popped on the surface of the tank as Tenzo let out a heavy breath. Breathing was so much easier now; exhales felt like battle cries and inhales were intoxicating.

Orochimaru looked up.

"How are you feeling?" His voice carried more curiosity than concern. Tenzo didn't answer but stared back into his eyes. There was something about that expression. Orochimaru stood up tentatively. I-7 had always looked weird, his eyes wide and rimmed in black; as an adult he could look downright frightening when lit from below. He had been stoic throughout the treatment; now he looked almost like he was smiling, but without giving any indication of smiling. It was something about his eyes, something Orochimaru couldn't put his finger on. He lifted his hands to the tank. The chakra was incredible. Vibrant, but slow-moving. No breakages or weak points in the system. Orochimaru let out a single, breathy laugh.

"It looks like the treatment has worked perfectly," he marveled, impressed with his own work. Now Tenzo really did smile, the corners of his mouth extending almost to the edges of his mask. Orochimaru's own smile dropped. In the same split-second spikes of wood shot from Tenzo's hands and first pierced, then shattered the glass. The wooden stakes didn't stop with the glass but came straight at Orochimaru so fast that shards of glass were bound to him as the wood wrapped around him like a lasso. Within moments Tenzo's feet touched the bottom of the tank, the fluid still pooling around his ankles. Orochimaru opened his mouth wide, his jaw unhinging.

"Oh no you don't." Tenzo's voice was harsh with anger and disuse as he expanded the wood to completely surround Orochimaru. Inside the pitch-black cocoon, Orochimaru tried to burst the wood with hundreds of snakes pushing against it full force at the same time, but the cocoon was strong and thick. He would have to try a more concentrated approach. He opened his mouth to produce a kunai from his throat and began scratching at a small point in the cocoon in order to weaken it for a second attempt. Tenzo had disconnected most of the larger tubes from his body while still inside the tank, but when he heard the scratching, he moved forward without regard for the rest. Hundreds of tiny needles over his chakra points tore across his chest, back, arms, and legs, leaving small, barely-bleeding scrapes. When he spoke, his voice sounded mad with rage.

"Stop that scratching!" He commanded, pushing the cocoon against the wall so hard that it left a small dent. Orochimaru jolted, the kunai slipping back towards him so that the blade cut his hand. He tried the snakes again, with more chakra this time, but there was even less space inside than before and it was hard to generate enough force. The cocoon was air-tight and he found himself struggling for breath. For the first time since Sasuke had actually managed to kill him, he felt panicked. How had he not evaded this? How had his patient gotten so fast? Orochimaru's shoulders drew up and his head tilted under the pressure of the shrinking cocoon. He began to change his skin and bones, making them elastic and flexible. But even he couldn't survive like this forever—even the most flexible snake still had a spine after all, and even an octopus could be crushed.

Tenzo wasn't wasting any time. A mob of nurses and Tsunade were doubtless on their way as soon as they heard the glass break. In spite of previous fantasies about making Orochimaru feel all the pain he had caused him, righteously lecturing him about his misdeeds, he didn't relish it now. He just wanted to get it over with. He expended more and more chakra until Orochimaru's cries faded out into silence. Then he looked at the floor and waited.

And then his eyes lit upon something that had fallen when he had slammed Orochimaru against the wall; the book he had been reading all this time. Tenzo's face fell when he read the words.

Suddenly, the cocoon began to loosen. The wooden limbs that had formed it recoiled and gave way to flesh. And I-7 stood there staring at the floor, his eyes empty and his body bleeding from a hundred tiny points.

Orochimaru gasped for breath. He resolidified his body and cracked his neck.

"Wh—why did you let me go?" He choked.

The door swung open and four or five nurses ran in.

"What happened?"

"Is everything okay?" They all spoke over each other. One ran to Tenzo and another to Orochimaru.

"What happened?" A nurse asked again, dabbing Tenzo's small cuts with a sterile cloth.

"H-his chakra spiked again," Orochimaru lied. "He accidentally broke the glass and I was pinned to the wall by an uncontrollable jutsu."

The nurses began to shift nervously.

"Oh." One said flatly. "How are you feeling now?"

"I'm fine," Tenzo said flatly, his eyes still glued to the book.

"I think he's in shock," the nurse who had been tending to him said, placing a sheet over his shoulders. "After I finish cleaning his wounds I think we should let him rest."

"No, no I'm fine," Tenzo insisted, clearing his head. His chakra wasn't drained even after the effort, but the nurse did have a point about him being shocked. He had been so close. He had almost killed Orochimaru once and for all and still survived himself.

The nurse tending to the sannin was sighing as he completed his quick exam.

"No broken bones, surprisingly. There's a lot of bruising, though, and he could use some oxygen." Another nurse started to leave the room.

"Give him the oxygen I was using," Tenzo suggested.

"But what about you?" His own nurse asked.

"I'm breathing fine." Seeming somewhat reluctant, the nurse retrieved the mask from where Tenzo had tossed it on the floor and checked that the oxygen was still flowing before placing it on Orochimaru's face. He took a few grateful, automated breaths as Tenzo watched.

"I'm sorry," Tenzo began, suddenly aware of the damage to the room as well as to his physician. "I'll . . . I'll pay for the tank."

"It's not your fault," his nurse insisted.

"Fault or no fault, we may have to restrain you," another nurse chimed in, quietly. "It's not that we don't trust you, it's just that if you're having trouble controlling your chakra. . ."

"That won't be necessary," Tenzo insisted. "It's not my chakra. I tried to kill him. It won't happen again so please don't waste any more time on me."

 **A/N:** Thank you guys for sticking with me after last chapter-sorry if it was too much! As always thank you for your lovely comments and let me know what you thought of this chapter!


	15. Chapter 15

Tenzo rested his head in his hands inside the small examining room. He was sitting on a hard plastic chair in a hospital gown, but he still had the sheet around his shoulders. He stared at the floor and waited until finally the door handle turned.

"How is he?"

"He's fine. He's resting now. You wanna tell me what happened?" Tsunade stood with her arms crossed and her hip jutted out, waiting for an answer. Tenzo hadn't yet met her eyes.

"No?" She prompted him.

"I'm sorry, I'm just . . . a little out of it." He felt almost as he had when he had first entered the tank, only everything was the opposite. Instead of sounds being muffled, everything sounded too loud. His eyes felt dry and the air felt cold. He pulled the sheet closer around him and finally continued. "I didn't mean to create more work for you all."

Tsunade sighed and unfolded her arms. She sat down on the examining table.

"I've gotta say, when you asked whether the seal worked both ways, I was a little suspicious. But I didn't think you would actually try to kill him by yourself. Well, try isn't really the right word, is it?" She bent down to make him meet her eyes. "Why did you let him go?"

Tenzo straightened his posture in the chair. His body felt heavy and he fidgeted uncomfortably.

"It's sort of a funny thing about the seal. In the end, even without one it seems you can't kill one person without impacting others."

Tsunade held his gaze, waiting for more.

"I saw his book."

"What book?"

"The book he had been reading this whole time. I had him completely enclosed with the mokuton . . . I was so close to just . . . I just thought that it was what was best for everyone. I couldn't forgive him, Godaime-sama. I just felt—I mean I feel, I still think he'll turn on us someday. But at the critical moment, I looked down and I saw that book on the floor and it was a text on rare poisons. He had written notes in the margins. Recipes for antidotes—even jutsu to counteract poison."

Tsunade let out a breath. Her brow was furrowed as if in confusion.

"I told you he was doing that."

Tenzo looked down at the floor again.

"I know. It's not that I didn't trust you, it's just . . . I can't trust _him_. I never will, but it wasn't my place to kill him. I put other shinobi at risk and I've delayed their treatment . . . I'm really sorry."

Tsunade stood up and waved her hand dismissively.

"Don't worry about it. It's not like the rest of the team has just been ignoring those patients waiting for Orochimaru. Shizune has a lot of skill with poisons as well and she's been treating patients using Orochimaru's ideas since the war ended. Anko Mitarashi just checked herself out this morning."

"Anko?"

"Yeah, she was also kidnapped. It seems Kabuto used a poison similar to the one he used on you, but since he wasn't interested in her chakra, she was continuously poisoned right up until the end of the war."

"That's right," Tenzo muttered. "Orochimaru used her curse mark to come back in the first place. Or Sasuke did I guess." He rubbed his eyes, suddenly regretting his mercy. "But she's alright?"

"Mhm, she made a full recovery. She just needs to gain some weight." Tsunade made her way to the door. "Listen, I'm still keeping an eye on him. Just because he's got a lot of knowledge doesn't mean he'll be able to run rampant. He's an asset. Emphasis on the 'ass'," she added with a wink. "Just leave him to me, Captain Yamato. You get some rest. A nurse will be in shortly to help you move to a regular room."

"Lady Tsunade?"

"Hm?"

"Do you think I could be treated on an outpatient basis?" He ventured, uncomfortably aware that he was lucky she wasn't punishing him for attempted murder and he was in no position to ask for favors. "I just . . . I'd really like to return to the barracks . . ."

"Not yet," Tsunade chided. "We need to keep a close eye on you for another couple of days. If you're still fine after that, I'll let you go."

"Yes, ma'am."

"But I will let you have access to the garden. I know you must be dying to get outside."

Tenzo smiled.

"Thank you."

/

The room that the nurse finally led him to was a large one with several other recovering shinobi lined up in beds, though fortunately the hospital was becoming emptier as time went on. On the bed that the nurse pointed out as his, there was a fresh uniform with his old forehead protector on top of the folded vest. Tenzo smiled gratefully at no one in particular as he picked it up. He was tired of wearing hospital gowns or even less. The high neck and long sleeves of the black uniform shirt covered the scratches from the needles as well as older, deeper scars. He pulled the neck up over his chin and slipped on his forehead protector before walking towards the garden, a little fenced in space on the hospital's east wing. The sun shining through the glass door looked like the light at the end of a tunnel. Catching a glimpse of his own reflection in the door, he thought it looked like a person he hadn't been in a very long time.

The warmth of the sun was the first thing that hit him when he opened the door. He took as deep a breath as he could, as if trying to fill himself with the sweet, grassy smell of the air. He closed his eyes and stood for a moment, still seeing the sun through his eyelids and feeling its heat on his face and the gentle moving air around him. It brought him back to a time when he was pulled out of the dank, deserted labs where he was the only one left. A time when someone took him by the hand and led him out onto the surface, out into the fresh air and the sunshine for the first time. Danzo Shimura. Tenzo had dreamed, once, that it was Kakashi who found and rescued him, but it wasn't. It was Danzo. And that first time, when he saw the sun filtering through the trees, the first time he saw the moon and the stars, when he heard human voices clearly and felt a human touch—Danzo's hand on his shoulder and Danzo saying "you are one of us"—how could one begin to describe it? There was a whole world of beauty he had been missing. Just to see the world and experience it with other people; that was a precious gift and a reason to be alive.

/

 **A/N:** Whew, sorry that last update took a while! We're drawing towards the end of the story now; just one more chapter to go and I believe it will be up in the next few days or maybe a week depending on how many times I rewrite it. Thank you guys for reading and for your lovely comments on the last chapter(s)! I'm glad you guys didn't disown me after the cliffhanger and I look forward to reading your feedback about this chapter as well!


	16. Chapter 16

**Author's note:** Welcome to the last chapter! Sorry I'm a bit later in posting than anticipated. Anyway, thanks for your comments on the previous one—I noticed you guys disliked the bit about Danzo, so I wanted to clarify that I didn't intend to portray redeeming qualities about him but rather to represent the fact that Tenzo's earliest positive memories are inextricably linked with this person (no matter how much he wishes they weren't) and that those memories still represent a time that was pivotal for him. Feel free to discuss more in the reviews or in PM! Anyway, on to the chapter!

[ Chapter 16 ]

The ANBU barracks were dank, bare, and grey. They smelled like the sweat of shinobi who were obsessed with training, but to Tenzo, they were a breath of fresh air. The halls, though dark, didn't seem gloomy at all when filled with chatter—not only mission-related but compliments and dirty jokes and laughter.

"Hey, Tenzo!" He heard Yugao's voice at the same time he felt her slap his shoulder. "You still up for training after yesterday?"

"Oh, yeah, of course," he said, though not without a hint of a groan as he stretched his back. It had been about a week since he'd been released from the hospital and although his chakra network was completely healed, his muscles had atrophied from disuse. Each day he had been training exclusively in taijutsu, and more than once he'd been supervised by none other than Might Gai who, despite being wheelchair-bound, was still a zealous coach and now more committed than ever to "nurturing" other shinobi in his own distinctive way.

Despite the toll working with Gai put on his body, Tenzo was thankful for and duly impressed by his indomitable attitude. Each day it was back to the basics, and Tenzo was impatient for his body to return to normal. An onlooker would probably not even call his training taijutsu, but Gai had insisted that it was.

"Anything that works the body and heats up the blood without infusing chakra is a form of taijutsu. Even the most mundane activity can be part of your training," he had sworn. "That's a value I've always tried to instill in Lee—you know, he once even carried a ten-ton umbrella to turn a walk in the rain into a training exercise!"

"Well, that's Lee for you. He's even more zealous than Naruto," Tenzo had grunted in between push-ups. But Gai wasn't around today, and Tenzo and Yugao worked out in a comfortable silence for most of the morning until a familiar voice broke their concentration.

"Feel like taking a break?"

Yugao jumped to her feet.

"Hokage-sama!"

Kakashi smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. He wasn't wearing the hokage garb but the new uniform that was slowly being distributed throughout the village.

"We're actually just finishing up for the morning," Yugao said, brushing some grass off of her pants.

"Then I'm just in time. Feel like going for a walk?" Kakashi asked, offering Tenzo a hand to help him to his feet.

/

"So, how's the training going?" Kakashi asked as they strolled around the outskirts of the village, somewhat beyond the ANBU training grounds. Yugao had excused herself for lunch.

"It's going fine. How are you doing? You've been swamped lately, I haven't seen you in over a week."

Kakashi sighed.

"I still am, sort of. To be honest I've got a shadow clone snipping the ribbon on a new government building as we speak."

Tenzo laughed, shaking his head.

"Pretty useful to be in two places at once."

"Yeah, but nevertheless it's not at all my speed," he sighed. "I haven't had time to read in I don't know how long. But, on the bright side, things are starting to come together in the village. The memorial services are finished, the Five Kage have had our first meeting together since the war, and Naruto is getting used to his new arm. Also, Orochimaru is serving jail time for his crimes prior to the war." He glanced at Tenzo as he added the last part with affected nonchalance. Tenzo stopped in his tracks.

"Oh?"

The hokage nodded a grave, tentative nod.

"We held private trials for several war criminals actually. I know you probably would have liked to testify, but believe me, we had plenty to charge him with even without you there. I've uh . . . decided to give him a chance of parole because of his help in treating those injured in the war. But for now we've returned him to the prison until we can reevaluate his case."

Tenzo nodded. He was taken aback by the feeling of satisfaction and renewed admiration for Kakashi. He wanted to say: "finally! I knew I could count on you". But what he said instead was:

"I think that's wise."

"Well, I thought it was best for the village. After all, most of us remember when he tried to wipe us out altogether."

Tenzo opened his mouth to say something else, but resorted to nodding again instead. The two men walked in silence for a few minutes until they came to a dropoff where they could see fifty meters down to a tiny stream at the bottom of a sun-soaked valley.

"Let's stop here for a minute," Tenzo suggested. After the morning's exercise he wanted to sit down. He stretched his pleasantly achy legs out in front of him and leaned back with his hands on the ground behind him. He took in a deep, satisfied breath, enjoying the beauty of his surroundings, but Kakashi seemed troubled.

"Tenzo, I've been wanting to ask you something."

"Oh?"

"When you attacked Orochimaru . . .You were in control of your chakra the whole time. Right?"

"Yes," he ventured slowly, wondering if he would be scolded after all this time. "You know I was, that's the only reason I wasn't restrained."

"But there were two spikes in your chakra; the one when you attacked him and the one that Naruto felt before your treatment was complete. When I asked, Tsunade said that the first spike was intentional as well."

Kakashi's voice was quiet. Tenzo leaned forward with a sigh, drawing up his knees and resting his elbows on them.

"Yeah, that was uh . . . my first attempt."

Kakashi paused for a moment, then took a sharp breath before speaking.

"Just how exactly were you planning to kill Orochimaru that first time?"

Tenzo looked out over the valley, avoiding eye contact. Despite having been a member of two black ops organizations there was still one person he hated lying to.

"With the mokuton," he said. It was technically true.

"Tenzo." Kakashi gave him a narrow-eyed stare. "You're not stupid, you can't have thought you could take him on, not in the state you were in." When Tenzo didn't answer, Kakashi entreated him like a father. "Just tell me the truth."

Tenzo let out a reluctant breath through his nose and turned to face Kakashi. His expression was both pleading and sympathetic.

"Surely you already know?"

Kakashi leaned back with a long inhale. He looked at the sky with an expression of utter disappointment and disgust. Suddenly a people-pleasing instinct arose in Tenzo. He turned so that his whole body was facing Kakashi.

"Listen. I just want Konoha to be at peace. Real peace. It's not like I wanted to die, I just thought we couldn't achieve that peace while Orochimaru was still alive. Also, I didn't expect to recover. Not like this. So at the time, it seemed like my only option."

"Why didn't you ask me for help?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"I'm the hokage now," Kakashi argued, using his clout for the first time, "if you had asked me, I would have had him executed. There's plenty in his past to allow me to do it legally."

Tenzo's brows took on the gentle furrow that they did when he was thinking about something and not quite getting it. Usually he made this expression sarcastically and Kakashi wasn't sure whether he was sincere now until he spoke, his voice fragile.

"I did ask you for help."

"When?"

"Before. Before he started treating me."

That's right. Now Kakashi slumped over in frustration.

"Yeah, but that also would have come at the expense of your life."

"Well, you've been on that kind of mission," Tenzo reasoned. "There's not always a good option, sometimes you just have to pick the one you think is best."

"Not everything is a mission."

Tenzo's eyes had that blank, unreadable expression, and he was silent for a few moments before he opened his mouth.

"Yes, it is. For me. That's all I've ever known."

Kakashi felt like he had been struck. When he spoke his voice was deep and short.

"Look, I know as well as you do what it's like to be a shinobi from a young age. To feel like fighting is your only purpose. But you're supposed to rebel from that at some point! You're supposed to realize that you're a person, not just a tool! Even an automaton like Sai managed to do that at least once!"

Tenzo's eyebrows raised in that offended, speechless expression. Kakashi wondered if he had gone too far but he waited.

"I don't know what you want me to say," Tenzo said eventually, showing the palms of his hands as if to demonstrate their emptiness. "I had two hokages telling me to trust Orochimaru and my experience telling me not to. I wasn't following orders. I was doing what _I_ thought I needed to."

Kakashi blinked a few times. His jaw was set under his mask. His eyes met Tenzo's for a long time, and even knowing his sharingan was gone, it made Tenzo uncomfortable.

"What I was going to do wasn't wrong," he said as his last defense, breaking the gaze even as he broke the silence.

"That's not what this is about," Kakashi said quickly, his voice low and rumbling gently. "I'm not making a moral judgment. I'm talking about what it would have done to me."

Now Tenzo's brows shot up in a different way, and he laughed silently, a laugh half-formed but pure of scoffs.

He put a hand on Kakashi's shoulder. He wanted to say something comforting but what was there to say?

"I never wanted to hurt you or anyone else," he said, softly. "I'm grateful for the life I have. I have never forgotten that advice. Or what you did for me back then."

Kakashi's heart lurched at the memory of a Kinoe of the Foundation, bound hand and foot and newly cut from the belly of a snake, looking up at Kakashi in shock at having his life saved by the one he was sent to kill.

"I guess you did rebel once," Kakashi said.

"Hm?"

"When Danzo told you to kill me."

Tenzo chuckled to himself, his expression softening into fondness.

"Well, you were the one who changed my mind. Back then, the foundation was the only family I had ever known. From my perspective, Danzo was the one who had saved my life. Of course he was just using me. A tool, like you said." A pang of sadness hit him where he thought the sadness had long dulled. "But it wasn't until you asked me whether I wouldn't rather leave the foundation and step into the sunlight that I ever considered the possibility that I hadn't yet reached the surface."

Kakashi nodded but his eyes seemed to look at something far away.

"And what kind of sunlight could you have expected when offered by a person who had killed his own friend?"

Tenzo frowned.

"I did think . . . at the time, before you explained . . ."

"Why wouldn't you? Even a direct witness would have thought I had meant to kill her. I don't know how Obito figured out that I didn't but it's a good thing he did. Otherwise . . . I don't know. Maybe he wouldn't have helped us."

Tenzo was quiet for so long that Kakashi wondered if he had zoned out or something. When he finally responded, his voice was hesitant.

"I think . . . he might have learned that from me."

"What? How?"

"When I was captured, he used his sharingan to look into my memory. It felt like my life flashing before my eyes, but some images lingered, like he was probing them. When he reached that mission it was like he was playing a movie in slow motion, and I couldn't figure out why because I still thought it was Madara. I thought, maybe he wanted information about you because you were a commander, or maybe it was about the foundation. But when he heard you explain, he had an emotional response, the only one I ever saw in him. He actually let go for a moment as if in shock. Now it makes sense." He shrugged.

Kakashi looked at him through narrowed eyes as if amazed. He shook his head.

"If I didn't know you better I'd think you were making this up." Suddenly his face became serious. "I'm sorry he used the sharingan on you."

Tenzo smiled and lay back down again with his hands behind his head and one leg crossed over the other.

"Hey, if you think it might have helped in some way then that's a relief to me."

Kakashi looked out over the valley. He couldn't help but imagine a masked Obito gripping his kohai's chin and staring into his eyes with the piercing, searching sharingan as Tenzo struggled to get away. As a child, Obito had been outgoing and friendly but unremarkable—he was always running late, helping an older person, or trying to impress the other kids—sometimes all three at once. Tenzo was his opposite. Mild, serious, and mission-focused, he was both adultlike and naïve. Their paths had never crossed.

Kakashi glanced at Tenzo now, where he lay in the grass. His posture was comfortable, his expression placid. Kakashi shook his head absent-mindedly and stood up.

"We'd better head back. I have a feeling I'm already late to whatever I'm supposed to be attending in-the-flesh this afternoon."

"I hope it's not time-sensitive," Tenzo grunted, standing up.

"Ah, what are they gonna do, fire me?"

"You'd better watch out, Senpai; Naruto's already got his eye on your job."

"Seeing as the day he succeeds me will be the day I finally get a little R&R, it can't come fast enough," Kakashi sighed. Tenzo chuckled.

"Let me know if there's anything I can do to help."

Kakashi nodded thoughtfully and slapped his companion on the back.

"Thanks, Tenzo. Good to know I can count on you," he said brightly, his eyes smiling half-moons.

/

"Are you ready, Hokage-sama?" Tenzo asked, peeking around the doorway of Kakashi's office. It had been two years since the end of the Fourth Great Shinobi War, and although the villages had settled into states of relative calm, it was also a time of vigorous reform. Kakashi had been working overtime for months, and Tenzo had barely left his side. Tonight would be his first night off since before he could remember, and Naruto had insisted that everyone get together for a team dinner.

"Just a minute," Kakashi called wearily, not looking up from the screen of his laptop. He blinked as he read; his eyes looked troubled but he only spent a few minutes clicking around before he finally closed the laptop and stood up.

"Let's go."

"Is it about the meiton, Senpai?" Tenzo asked, hesitantly.

"No, something else this time," Kakashi sighed, stretching his back. He hung up the hokage's coat and reached for his flack vest. "But no less disturbing. To be honest, using Orochimaru is looking more and more appealing."

Tenzo nodded, resigned.

"He has a wealth of knowledge about kekkei genkai," he admitted. "Especially those that were supposed to be extinct."

"I don't know. It seems risky but on the other hand if we can get him working as a Konoha nin instead of just keeping him in a jail cell it seems less likely that he'll defect," Kakashi said, half to himself as he exited the office and locked the door behind them. Tenzo opened his mouth to speak but hesitated before finally getting it out.

"Senpai, I have a favor to ask you."

"Sure, ask away," Kakashi invited him, ready to be begged to keep Orochimaru behind bars.

"Please put me on the team you send to guard him."

Kakashi slowed his pace.

"Are you sure you want that?"

Tenzo's face was stern but he answered quickly.

"I am."

Kakashi shook his head, more in confusion than negation.

"Tenzo, it's not your responsibility to watch over him. I would have thought that you would never want to see him again if you didn't have to."

"I know. But I believe I'm well-suited to the task. I know what he's capable of."

"Yes, but there are plenty of shinobi who are qualified—even shinobi who are intimately familiar with his skills and techniques. Anko Mitarashi comes to mind."

"Yes, but she was his student. I have no emotional ties to him, which is something neither Anko nor Tsunade-sama can say. Besides, Anko—"

"I know, I know, bad example," Kakashi interrupted. "I wouldn't do that to her. But I don't want to do it to you either."

"I'll be fine, Senpai. I _want_ to do this." He paused for a moment, as if trying to figure out why for himself before trying to explain it to Kakashi. All he could think about was Yukimi Iburi. His thoughts when they parted had become like a mantra over the past few months as the prospect of giving Orochimaru his own lab became more and more realistic. _All I can do right now is follow the rules. But that's okay, because now I know that I'm capable of protecting someone._ At the time it was small consolation for a boy with still so little freedom. This time there were no rules to force him into any line of work, but the urge to protect the village compelled him in a different way. "I want to be there to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone. I want to make sure he never experiments on another unwilling subject."

They walked down the stairs in silence as Kakashi mulled over his words. He smiled behind his mask. As children they had bonded over their mutual helplessness to protect the ones they loved. Now he heard his own voice in Tenzo's vows to prevent the past from repeating itself. Maybe they weren't so different after all.

"Okay," Kakashi said, finally, as they reached the ground floor. "You're on the assignment."

[The End]

 **Author's Note #2:**

Thank you all so much for reading this fic – let me know what you think of this chapter and the story as a whole in the reviews! You guys have made writing this so much fun so I wanted to say some specific thank-yous:

SoulOfAFangirl684, thanks so much for commenting so regularly and with such detailed reviews. Hearing the parts you liked was a blast for me, especially since the parts you liked were sometimes the ones that I thought no one would notice. I also really appreciated your constructive criticism and ideas about what other directions the story might have taken!

soulsketched, thank you for the nicest writing comment I have ever received on or off the internet. Your review kept my ego boosted for weeks and I am so glad you enjoyed this long and obsessive fic!

Duchess-Of-Dirt, thank you also for commenting so regularly. I loved your stream-of-consciousness reviews so I could read your gut reactions.

And thank you, guest(s), for your comments as well! I am not sure how many were from the same person but in the beginning when I was just trying out posting the first chapter someone commented from a guest account and I decided that if someone was reading I guessed I would finish the story!

Finally, thanks to those of you guys who followed, favorited, or just read!

Okay, you have made it to the end of my ridiculously long note as if I was accepting an Oscar. Sorry for that but indeed I just wanted to say thank you so much to each and every one of you guys.


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